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Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
Welcome to the Lounge Lizards Podcast presented by Fabric of Five. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars as well as whiskey travel food work and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight, I'm joined by Rooster, Senator, Pagoda, chef Ricky, and Bam Bam.
Gizmo:And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some scotch, talk about life, and, of course, have some laughs. So take dishes, your two hundred and fifty third official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Glad to here once a week. We're gonna smoke at Dominican Cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating. We discussed the success of the episode two fifty giveaways.
Gizmo:We detail German banks ceasing business with the local Habanos distributor, and we share tips on collecting, storing, and aging cigars, all among a variety of the things for the next two hours. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, enjoy as we pair the Glenmorangie, the Nectar, 16 years old, with the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez Carrillo in Toro. A Dominican Toro on the pod tonight, boys. It's called the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez Carrillo. It's a 52 ring gauge cigar by six inches long.
Gizmo:And, boys, we'll start tonight with a hand up accountability. I bought the wrong cigar. So let me explain. Senator sent this over raving
Senator:Not raving.
Gizmo:About well, you you you
Senator:enjoyed It it was solid.
Bam Bam:I heard you were raving.
Gizmo:It was it was like
Chef Ricky:a d four.
Gizmo:It was the new new d four.
Bam Bam:Just like it.
Gizmo:Many how many how many Aladino Camarus you both smoke? I smoke a lot. Oh, a lot. I'm back on them, actually. I'm back on You're welcome.
Bam Bam:And they get better as they age.
Gizmo:I'm back I'm back on them. I was back I was off them, but I'm back on them. Anyway, so there's a cigar called the Cuba Aliados original blend. And I'm gonna go through this whole story and everything, but that was the cigar I intended to get tonight. Instead, I got what was originally a limited edition in 2022, the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez Carrillo, which is the same marker made by two different people.
Gizmo:All of this owned by Oliva, which doesn't make any of the cigars for Cuba Aliados. So it's very weird. We'll talk about it. Anyway, my big fat finger hit the wrong button and I ordered the cigar that Senator did not tell me to order.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Gizmo:And so hand up, accountability. We're big about accountability here. I'm hoping for a wonderful night here with this cigar. I've read good things.
Rooster:Tell him, ma'am, he's on a pip.
Gizmo:I'm on a procurement pip. I'll put myself on it. This was a big I
Bam Bam:can't do that to him.
Senator:We'll figure out the sentence once we smoke it. Like a context.
Gizmo:As if I made it.
Bam Bam:The Fundadores will never leave my mind, that transaction.
Rooster:Goddamn it.
Gizmo:See what happens when you help friends? Thank you, Ben.
Senator:The context on the Aliados was we got them at PCA two years ago. '25. I think so. And it had sat for a while just in my tower, and then I had lit one here at the lounge, it was like a mild medium smoke, but enjoyable.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's made by Justo Airoa. It's a Honduran. So that side is made by Airoa. This side's made by Perez Carrillo, all in tribute of Ronald Reyes who founded Cuban Aliados.
Gizmo:So go through all that. But first, boys, let's cut this thing. Let me cross our fingers while we do it. See what we're getting on the cold draw on the wrapper. And it's a very exciting cut tonight because we have a new sponsor, boys.
Bam Bam:Woah. Correct.
Gizmo:New sponsor alert. Very, very exciting. Confirmed it about a half hour ago. Drew Estate. Wow.
Gizmo:Is coming on board.
Rooster:Let's go.
Gizmo:Sponsoring the podcast.
Bam Bam:That's amazing. It's a big deal.
Gizmo:Yeah. I'm really excited about it.
Senator:He's expecting Pagoda to sing
Pagoda:congratulations and celebrations.
Rooster:There you go. I have
Pagoda:a Congratulations and celebrations. Oh, my lord. Happy birthday. I don't know. I forgot what it is.
Pagoda:I
Gizmo:had to leave the tag on there when I cut it.
Bam Bam:You're a sweetheart. You know that.
Gizmo:Yeah. So for the next couple of weeks, Drew Estate's gonna present the cut in the light and then they're going to be. One of our advertisers through the end of the year and hopefully into next.
Bam Bam:Very credible.
Gizmo:Very, very happy to have them on board. Will tell more of that story and their story over the next few months, but very, very exciting and thankful to have Drew Estate coming on board with the Lounge Lizards. What are you guys getting on the cold dryer? It is a nice feeling cigar. I'll say that.
Gizmo:It feels great in the hand.
Senator:Smell the wrapper in the foot.
Bam Bam:I said earlier, it's definitely milk chocolate.
Gizmo:You know what this smells like? You're gonna think I'm crazy. It's milk chocolate. Have you been to Hershey World in Hershey, Pennsylvania? Yes.
Gizmo:Have you done the chocolate ride? No. Where they take you through the making process of
Bam Bam:Oh, in the factory.
Gizmo:No, it's on the grounds of the theme park.
Bam Bam:No, I've never done that.
Rooster:I have
Gizmo:not really wonka. It's a phenomenal ride, and they give you a little chocolate bar at the end. This is what the entire ride smells like.
Bam Bam:I love Hersheypark.
Gizmo:It's awesome.
Chef Ricky:The cold draw is even more chocolate. It's insane.
Bam Bam:Chocolate and
Gizmo:berry. It's like cocoa sauce.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. It's like sweet chocolate.
Bam Bam:Chocolate and berry, or cocoa pebbles and fruity pebbles mixed together.
Gizmo:Well, that's a good call. It's amazing how well cereal works in
Bam Bam:this, which I did all
Gizmo:the a racket of ours.
Chef Ricky:Fruit and carbohydrate, baby. Carbs.
Pagoda:Although my cigars seem to have barricose beans.
Gizmo:Yeah. Mine too. It's very
Bam Bam:Tooth. Teeny. Toothy. I love the band. Simple.
Gizmo:Classic. Looks like milk chocolate. Alright, boys. Let's light this thing. Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez Carrillo Vittorro, 52 ring gauge cigar by six inches long.
Gizmo:Again, tonight's light is brought to you by our new friends at True Estate. Very excited to have them on board. Incredible, actually. For listeners out there, I say it at the end of every episode, but but having partners and sponsors come on, it's not just awesome to talk about it, but they really, really make this all possible. You know, we purchase a lot of spirits.
Gizmo:We certainly purchase a lot of cigars. We buy every single cigar we review. We never take a free cigar for review. We've not done that in now two fifty two Tuesdays. So having partners and sponsors on board help us make this all possible and travel and all the other stuff that we're able to do is because of the sponsors.
Gizmo:And I'm very proud that we've never asked the audience for a dime to consume our content. So I think we're unique in that way as well. So. Happy to have them on board and really appreciate our listeners support.
Chef Ricky:We're going
Gizmo:to change that. Well, I think we could put the Lizards After Dark. I think we can get a Patreon going for that. But aside from that, it's it's it's awesome when our listeners support the people who present our podcast. Correct.
Gizmo:So what are guys getting on the light?
Bam Bam:It's very pleasant.
Rooster:Mhmm.
Bam Bam:It's a sweeter side.
Gizmo:I love the way it initially hits the middle of your tongue.
Senator:I'm glad the sweetness is there because the regular version of this that I had, it was sweet and creamy. Very much the kind of profile that we normally like, But this is good.
Bam Bam:Not getting a discerning note though. I'm trying. Could be that I burned my nostrils out earlier. What happened? Tell my nouveauge is misfunctioning.
Bam Bam:I think it's a user error. I think you're right.
Gizmo:So you went away from it for a week. You tried it and you burned your nostrils.
Bam Bam:It was unbearable. Did you put saline in
Gizmo:it or cayenne pepper or something?
Bam Bam:No, just the salt pod. I felt like something maybe went wrong.
Gizmo:I don't know. You've never had that happen, have you?
Bam Bam:No, I know. I was shocked. I threw it in the garbage. I'm buying a new one.
Senator:It's 100
Gizmo:I know.
Senator:Could be using contaminated handkerchiefs.
Chef Ricky:Just save it and return it.
Gizmo:It's dirty distilled. It's a pleasant cigar. A little saltiness. Touch of minerality. Yep.
Gizmo:A little citrus I think there.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, I think that minerality is interfering with the sweet almost carbohydrate like note that we seek.
Bam Bam:You know what's funny?
Chef Ricky:It's providing some depth, but it's a little weird.
Bam Bam:The sweetness is like a sugar cane type thing. It's not a carb or it's just like a drop of sugar.
Rooster:I think it's savory and sweet at the same time. That's what's making the sweetness not too overpowering, but it's also savory too at the same time.
Bam Bam:Anyone getting a touch of white pepper?
Chef Ricky:There's some pepper there.
Bam Bam:Just a touch.
Chef Ricky:I'm getting a touch of pepper. But for me, the minerality is throwing this off a little bit.
Senator:This definitely has more body than the regular one. This is medium to start. That other one starts like mild medium.
Bam Bam:Is it the same Vitola?
Gizmo:It was a Toro, 52 by six.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Gizmo:So roughly the same. Different makeup, of course.
Bam Bam:How much was this?
Gizmo:This is $9.50 with our code at small batch.
Bam Bam:It's a good value.
Gizmo:Good value for a Toro. Yeah. This one is a little bit more expensive than the one that I thought we were smoking tonight. That one's a little bit less expensive than this. So that one technically when it was released was a regular production.
Gizmo:This was technically a limited production, but I would think that after this amount of years that this has entered into a semi regular production situation. I'm not a 100% on that, but I'm feeling that that's the case. So let's talk a little bit about this cigar boys. First up, the rapper is Ecuadorian Sumatra, aged for five years over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from The Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Total production of these cigars initially was limited to 15,000 boxes, 10,000 for The US, 5,000 for international markets, Boxes are 20 counts.
Gizmo:Five Vitolas in the Cuba Aliados by EPC line. Of course, the one we have in our hand, the Toro 52 by six, the Robusto 50 by five, Torpedo 54 by six, the Regordo 60 by six. Of course, Ernesto Podcast, you know, famous for the large ring gauges trend in the late nineties, and the Churchill 50 by seven ranging at MSRP from, like, $14.15 bucks up to 16. So let's talk a little bit about the story of this. It's actually pretty fascinating.
Gizmo:So Cuba Aliados was a brand that the late Rolando Reyes senior had a lot of success with in the nineties during the cigar boom. So it went away for some time, and that gentleman died in 2012, actually. And in 2021, the Vandermarliere family of cigars who own a leave a cigar company purchased the rights to Cuba Aliados, which is a Honduran brand, like I said, discontinued in the nineties, two thousands. So this is really weird. So it's owned by Aliva.
Gizmo:Aliva doesn't make any of the cigars for Cuba Aliados. They only work with Aieroa on the Honduran side and Ernesto Perez Carrillo on the Dominican side. So the two blends are done as a nod to Rolando Reyes senior's travels after leaving Cuba in 1970 as he sought to find soil and growing conditions similar to his homeland, a journey that led him to Honduras in 1990. The name Cuba Aliados came from a Cuban bus company. Reyes said he borrowed Aliados from a bus line, meaning Allied Cuba.
Gizmo:So it's not like a really, there's not like a heartfelt family. He just saw it on a bus and wanted to grab it. There's a New Jersey connection. He, after leaving Cuba, opened a guess West New York? No.
Gizmo:Close. Poor
Rooster:poor as Indios. Union City?
Gizmo:Union City.
Rooster:Oh. Thank you. After
Gizmo:after leaving
Bam Bam:You can leave now.
Gizmo:After leaving Cuba, Reyes opened a cigar operation in Union City before then going to Miami and eventually landing in Honduras. He started learning about tobacco at nine years old in Cuba. Rolando personally worked the graveyard shift doing quality control, inspecting production from roughly 10PM until four to 5AM. This is, of course, in the nineties when he was doing that. If work was seriously flawed, he would overturn the rollers table and leave a note saying, oh, ho.
Gizmo:Essentially, I'm watching you. He made elaborate figurados without molds, which was pretty crazy. His diademas. So you know the diademas. Think
Rooster:Davidoff.
Gizmo:The Davidoff or the Kellner is a DiDemas, the LE 80 that we love so much. He made them without malts in the nineties. So they were so unfamiliar to American customers that some customers couldn't figure out which side to light, which is pretty funny. A distributor lawsuit sidelined the brand during the cigar boom. They lost much of their opportunity because of a dispute with cigars by Santa Clara.
Gizmo:And like I said, they came back in 2021. The brand was purchased, and then the brand was relaunched at PCA twenty twenty two. So this is also interesting. The original blend, which is the one that senator originally pointed us to, has a pretty interesting contradiction. The relaunched cigar uses entirely Honduran tobacco.
Gizmo:So, again, not this one, the other one. What's interesting is Rolando Reyes explained that he disliked Honduran tobacco and didn't use
Rooster:it at all.
Gizmo:So technically, I guess, the Carrillo version is a little bit more in line with Reyes' palate and what he liked. He did not like Honduran tobacco.
Senator:Well, I already did. We all obviously disagree with him on that.
Gizmo:A 100%
Senator:having had the other one and some of this one, the other one, the flavor profile, it's like that milder Cuban profile. Like, there was a creaminess and sweetness. This you would never think blind has any Cuban element to it. So I wish this were more like the other expression that I thought it was pretty cool to have, like, a very affordable new world that had some Cuban esque, qualities about it.
Bam Bam:I wish this were desirable in any way.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. It is very earthy in a dirty I'm finding it really earthy in
Gizmo:a dirty way. Going back
Rooster:to your story you were talking about, did they actually roll cigars in Union City?
Gizmo:I think so, yeah, before we went to Miami. I've been to that store. Really?
Rooster:Yeah. It's around like the 40, I don't know, 41st, 42nd Street, Union City. There was a store. I don't know if it's still there. And they had a small store.
Bam Bam:Check it out tomorrow.
Rooster:Cuban Aliados.
Gizmo:Really?
Pagoda:When was this? 1950s?
Chef Ricky:Yeah. New York's coming.
Rooster:Yeah. I wanna say,
Gizmo:like, maybe 2000 No kidding.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:He's there for a while. Too a bit.
Rooster:I know. It doesn't mention anything about a connection between Puros, Indios, and Cuban Aliados, does it?
Gizmo:Yeah. I think that was another brand that he owned. Puros Indios. Yeah. Just had so much information on Aliados that I just focused on that.
Gizmo:There's so many interweaving things. I just find it interesting that Aleva, such a huge manufacturer of cigars, buys this brand and then doesn't make any of them themselves. From an economic standpoint, it's almost like, did they want to test out the manufacturing relationship potentially with AROA or Perez Carrillo before they moved it to other Oiva lines? Like, economically, why would you not want to make your own cigars and keep more of the pie? Mhmm.
Gizmo:You know, because Aliva works with all these kinds of tobacco. Yeah. You know?
Bam Bam:Any word on the blend?
Gizmo:What do you mean?
Bam Bam:Did you go over
Gizmo:that?
Senator:Yeah. Alright. I don't remember the full blend, though, so it's just helpful to
Chef Ricky:I I don't either. I just
Rooster:remembered Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
Gizmo:Ecuadorian cilantro wrapper, aged for five years, covering Nicaraguan binder, filler tobaccos grown in both Doctor and Nicaragua.
Bam Bam:What a Sounds
Chef Ricky:like it should be a banger.
Pagoda:Yeah. Doesn't Olivia own all the farms in Ecuador? They own a lot of
Bam Bam:tobacco I don't
Gizmo:know they own them all.
Pagoda:They own a lot, right? Yeah, I know. A lot of the Ecuadorian wrappers come from them.
Rooster:It's weird, the aroma that we were getting on the wrapper, you're not getting any of that through this blend.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Rooster:It's just kind of blah. Even the sweetness has kind of dissipated. Not getting that milk chocolate note that
Gizmo:we were hoping to get.
Bam Bam:Yet again, you're correct.
Gizmo:It's disconnected from the cold draw in a pretty dramatic way.
Senator:If you smell the burn line, you actually get a nicer aroma and flavor than you do on your palate.
Bam Bam:That's true. It's a touch floral for me.
Gizmo:That's very
Bam Bam:interesting And it's quite pleasant.
Pagoda:Yeah, I'm getting the pleasant, yeah. Know, because you know he said like I love the pleasant. I love, because I have my palate, it's really actually, it feels pleasant. It's like I'm getting a little bit of sweetness and a nutty saltiness.
Bam Bam:On the
Pagoda:aroma or the No, no, in the palate.
Bam Bam:Really? Yeah.
Chef Ricky:I think that's gonna I wish I was getting that. My cigar has been taking some really sharp, like, turns. You know, I I was getting what Pagoda was getting, and then it got real dark. The minerality was really coming through super earthy, and now it's turning into cedar. So it's just these quick turns and divots, but I don't know, let's see where it finishes, how it rounds out.
Chef Ricky:I'm hoping it rounds out right now. It's all very sharp. What's happening?
Bam Bam:It's a good looking cigar. It's performing nicely. Yeah. Good draw, Nice hash on it. Not razor sharp, but good.
Gizmo:Again, I'm a little, you know, to sum that up, I'm very confused by the blend right now. Yeah. Like it's not going in a direction that makes sense that's cohesive. Does that accurately describe it? Absolutely.
Gizmo:I like you're saying, I think you're getting some good flavor here and there, but it's like. Yep. Yep. Jolting, you know? Hopefully it rounds out.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's do a little update here on our episode two fifty giveaways on Instagram. I don't know if if you guys even saw what was going on on Instagram.
Rooster:I didn't
Pagoda:have any takeaways.
Gizmo:You didn't win? I did put in every description that you were ineligible. You can look at all three of them. It says Pagoda is ineligible if you read them.
Chef Ricky:I think the second or third one you put Pagoda is still ineligible. Remains ineligible.
Gizmo:Pagoda remains ineligible.
Bam Bam:The world saw that.
Gizmo:And I had, you know, you know, I had to be clear that he couldn't win, you know? So we did three giveaways sponsored by our friends at Small Batch. First one was for a box of avowed new Don Toros. The second was stoic equanimity and wisdom. And finally, the Davidoff Maximar twenty fifth anniversary.
Gizmo:So Maximar, by the way, is the name of the retail shop of Small Batch Cigar in California. So celebrating their twenty fifth anniversary at that retail shop. What was pretty amazing, guys, and like I said, I don't know if you saw it, but I do want to highlight it and I want to shout out Lizard Nation. On the first post, which was probably the most simple from an action standpoint, all you had to do was like and share the post, follow the lounge lizards, and tagged two fellow lizards in the comments. We got three thirty five comments.
Gizmo:Three thirty five submissions. Nice.
Senator:That's a lot of fake accounts, Pagoda.
Gizmo:And he still didn't win.
Pagoda:You know, this
Bam Bam:You actually are tech savvy,
Pagoda:aren't you? This AI bot that I have,
Bam Bam:it's not doing it. Did you program that bot yourself?
Rooster:Is that the same one you used for gambling?
Pagoda:Yeah, really the one I played, gambling yesterday. So
Gizmo:I pulled them all down. I actually found this service online to pull them all down, and then I worked them out. Like, if you you know, everybody had bonus entries and stuff and you could do as many as you wanted. So the winner was Ryan Mess ninety on Instagram. He won the box of Avowed New Dawns in Toro.
Gizmo:And then the next day, it was like and share the post, follow Lounge Lizards and Stoic Cigars, and tell us the best cigar you've discovered in 2026. And then there was a bonus entry. They got double entry if they told us the best cigar that they've found because of the podcast. So some pretty amazing responses here. I mean, a lot of these I'm going to put in the queue for review.
Gizmo:But a lot of Kellner eighties, my father blues, Tata Tatawaje Cabo Iguan, stoic equanimity, stoic regular line, Trinity Robusto, a bunch of Fabrica five. Like really cool how many listeners have shouted out some cigars that they're loving that they found because of the podcast. Stoic OG Justice, the blue blanded one. Another one here, Lizard Buzz says he loves the knuckle sandwich 58. Lounge Lizards turning him on to the stoic.
Gizmo:That's his favorite from us. I mean, Aladino two hundred and fiftieth. Just a ton of great responses here. So I have to shout out Lizard Nation. They really, really rose up.
Gizmo:Obviously winning this great box was fantastic for Q the Leaf Lizard Rodney, but just the the response was amazing. And then the final one was for the Davidoff box. This one was the most focused on listeners. So this one was like and share the post, follow the wizards, and tell us your favorite Lounge Lizards moment from the first 250 episodes. And what I was shocked about, and I know you think I'm coming to you.
Gizmo:Don't get excited.
Bam Bam:I'm not excited.
Gizmo:I couldn't believe how many folks, like the stuff that I thought people were gonna say, listeners were gonna say, they really pointed a lot of folks pointed to the Cuba trips and the Cuba trip recaps.
Bam Bam:Nice. And the interviews. Cool.
Gizmo:And the interviews, namely with George Padron, with Ernesto Perez Carrillo. There were some others, but I mean, some incredible responses here. So I'm gonna share Wow. Something with you know, some of these with you now. So Lizard Christopher dot Johnson said, definitely the lost Sodalos and anything involving travel.
Gizmo:Favorite moments. This is from John Smoke Cigars. Favorite moments have been the descriptions of your trips to Cuba and times at the annual PCA convention, especially in New Orleans. Great listens. Lizard Enrique, too many memories to narrow down, but the Bam can't shop, and the Bam Bam Price is Right episode is the funniest.
Gizmo:The Partagas Calabres episode is the most magical. That's going back all
Senator:the way to what? 12? Yeah, the garage days.
Bam Bam:To the Senator Lounge days.
Gizmo:Lizardthomas. Knifle, As someone who's never been to Cuba, loved learning about the country and cigars through your stories. BG Cigars, one of my favorites was the Trinidad Fundadores incident. That was hilarious. I think a steak dinner is still over still owed.
Bam Bam:I quit. Correct. I
Gizmo:fucking quit.
Bam Bam:You should get that clip.
Gizmo:Another one, episode two nineteen. This is from user q the leave. He won the second box. The Aladino Aladino eighty fifth review and Klaus Kellner interview. Cheers to 250.
Gizmo:I mean, there's just so many moments here. This one I love the the Porro smoker. Man. So many moments, but for me, it would have to be that first episode. Partagas Maduro number one.
Gizmo:I remember I'd been looking for a good cigar podcast for a while, then that first listen feels like yesterday. The banter, the cigar knowledge, the US Open final commentary, very apropos for this last week here, senator. It was a revelation. I had finally found what I was looking for, both New World and Cubans, great audio, interesting conversations, and the friendships in the room. Needless to say, I went through every episode, and now it's a weekly staple.
Gizmo:Each week, I feel like I'm an extra lizard in the room with you guys. I already have a bottle of Tresseme and a cigar ready for tomorrow's episode.
Rooster:I'll hit
Gizmo:it for him, Bam.
Bam Bam:Why not? Go ahead.
Gizmo:See what else we got here. Actually, the next one. Drink, smoke, golf. Maybe the recent hairspray incident. I like this one, tried and true moments.
Gizmo:It's about the moments on how we enjoy cigars. In the Pods case, it's those moments that meet banter that get me. Makes me reminisce on times with my guys that now have all moved away to Florida, especially Pagoda asleep in his car or making fun of Bam and his rules. Flip flops. Oh, la la.
Gizmo:In my opinion, dissecting appreciating the notes of a cigar is best alone, which I thought was interesting. However, it's much more enjoyable and fun with good company. So tons of these great comments. Here's another one. Lizard Buzz.
Gizmo:Can't choose one. My favorite episodes are when you guys talk about North Korea lounge. Member ex's wife, he came up a couple times, Lizard X, the wife incident in your private lounge. Love the interviews. So just the banter that goes on.
Gizmo:I laugh every time someone in the group says correct. I love and listen to a lot of cigar podcasts, but yours is the one that gets immediately listened to when released. And the winner of this third box was user Rhino underscore pics, and this was again a random drawing. He said, I've only been listening to the Lounge Lizards for about a month, but I've enjoyed listening to the back catalog. And one of the very first older episodes that I listened to was the moment I realized these are my people, and that was your episode on the my father, the judge, MF the judge.
Gizmo:In my circle, everyone swears it's one of the best cigars ever made, and I am just not a big fan and to hear an entire room of grown men share my same opinion made me feel like I'm not crazy.
Bam Bam:Correct. That's cool. 100%.
Gizmo:Yeah. Here's another one, battle station zero. Favorite moment is when freezing protocol turns into tobacco beetle mating sessions. That's when you forgot how to do a beetle protocol.
Bam Bam:I just put it in the freezer.
Gizmo:In the kitchen, correct? So yeah, there's a lot of great stuff here. Padron interview for sure was the one that was probably the most hits on a single thing. That's cool. Bunch of notes about the Padron interview, so I actually sent that to George Padron just so he could see folks appreciating the interview.
Gizmo:So again, we have to thank small batch cigar. They came to us with that idea. Dave reached out. He said, hey, you got 2 50 coming up. Let's give away some amazing boxes.
Gizmo:I mean, if you do that, you do the value on those three boxes like it's not a light lift what they gave away. So we really have to say thank you to those guys. It was really, really kind of them.
Bam Bam:Very cool.
Senator:Is the username for the Davidoff winning box at all familiar to you, Giz?
Gizmo:Rhinopics? Just a question.
Bam Bam:No. Senator won the box.
Gizmo:All I'll say is that your AI bot is pretty damn good pagoda.
Bam Bam:You're gonna have to share some cigars, kiddin.
Gizmo:I got I got the guy's address. Oh, yeah. Pagoda's got friends in a lot of places. Look at Pagoda. No.
Gizmo:That's you? Is he
Rooster:shot head?
Bam Bam:It's shot head.
Rooster:He got you, guys.
Bam Bam:Who is it? Got you good.
Gizmo:Oh my goodness. Second.
Rooster:You pranked me?
Gizmo:And you randomly won it? Are you being serious?
Rooster:Yeah. This is stoic, but Oh, sorry.
Gizmo:Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. One did you win?
Bam Bam:You're making him nervous here. The Avowed. He's taking a drink.
Gizmo:You won the Avowed
Bam Bam:box? You motherfucker.
Rooster:No. You didn't.
Bam Bam:You're sharing those cigars. Do you think
Pagoda:I would have known do you think I would have known what's available?
Rooster:He got the Avowed box. I got the Davidoff box, and Senator got the equanimity.
Gizmo:I don't know if you guys are pranking, but
Senator:Only only one of those three things is true.
Gizmo:Is there something that's really true?
Bam Bam:One of those.
Gizmo:Okay. What is actually true? Pigoda's going over the box. Which one? Are you serious?
Pagoda:Don't know. Let me see.
Bam Bam:Check what you're Did
Gizmo:you know about this, chef?
Chef Ricky:I did not. I did not. I was fooled too.
Gizmo:Bamboozled. Pagoda is Wow, better that was a random win. I put it in a selection generator. I didn't pick that, like, manually. I downloaded all the comments and threw it in.
Gizmo:So which one did you win?
Pagoda:You know, I might have just put all the 300 entries.
Chef Ricky:Pagoda's a lucky
Gizmo:guy, man.
Bam Bam:He's got a lot of time on his hands.
Gizmo:I don't know what's going on over there. Which one did you win? Tell the people. Or you're messing with me, aren't you?
Senator:No, we're fucking with you.
Bam Bam:We're messing with you, guys.
Gizmo:You know,
Chef Ricky:that was good, boys.
Gizmo:That was I got to say, you did have me there.
Bam Bam:I had me.
Gizmo:They had me. Pretty good. So boys, before we get to some news, we're coming up on the thirty minute mark here. I think we need to elevate the evening a little bit and go to our pairing. So we have a single malt scotch in the room tonight from the Glenmorangie, 16 years aged, the Nectar.
Bam Bam:The aroma's outstanding. Cheers. Cheers.
Gizmo:Good to see you, I wanna cheers, raise our glass to Lizard Nation in that amazing response to the giveaways, the views, and the attention that those giveaways got. It was seriously incredible. One of the best moments that we've had on the Internet side of what we do here. So cheers to everyone out there. We appreciate it.
Gizmo:And cheers to you guys on two fifty.
Chef Ricky:Cheers, Lizard Nation.
Gizmo:Coming up on 265. Very nice.
Bam Bam:Tell me you're not getting hold on. Smooth.
Pagoda:I'm definitely getting
Bam Bam:the Are you not getting honey? Caramel, salty caramel, deep caramel, and just a touch of orange rind.
Chef Ricky:Yes, Spot on.
Bam Bam:Unusual. Spot on.
Chef Ricky:That was very good. That first sip was incredible.
Gizmo:That is awesome. Yeah. Actually, I will say That's
Bam Bam:pretty special.
Gizmo:Senator, I will say, I'm actually feeling good about this. Obviously, when we were pointing to this Glenmorangie tonight, we were thinking that I was too, thinking it was the other cigar, the Cuba Aliados, the original blend, which was all Honduran, a little bit lighter than this. I actually think this is really well suited for this cigar tonight.
Senator:Well, I think this cigar needs it. The reason I had it in mind for the other cigar is the other cigar is dessert like. This is very dessert like, so they would have been a perfect marriage, but this cigar doesn't have as much sweetness as the original blend, so this is definitely helping fill that gap.
Bam Bam:Yeah, agreed.
Chef Ricky:Don't know what the proof is on here, but I could tell you that it's slightly elevated.
Gizmo:It's got to be above 40.
Chef Ricky:It's perfect. It is perfect. That amount of flavor that is coming out of this.
Bam Bam:It's outstanding. Wow.
Gizmo:And very rich. 46 percent. Oh, no kidding.
Senator:But it's smooth. Yeah. I will say the tasting notes that they have on the box for this is probably some of the most accurate tasting notes we've ever seen.
Bam Bam:The initial sip was a little hard for me, but
Gizmo:Like on a heat standpoint? Yeah, just initially. I agree with
Bam Bam:you. But it's dissipated already, and the
Senator:flavor is incredible. Go ahead. Sorry. On the box it says 16 years age in bourbon and sweet white wine casks, which I don't think we have ever had That's a spirit age in correct.
Gizmo:Do you get that?
Senator:Yeah. Is there a
Gizmo:dryness that you're getting?
Senator:No, dryness. It's the sweet citrus notes I think that you get in
Gizmo:this. Interesting.
Senator:It says, Born from the memory of entering a French pastry shop. The nectar is a swirl of sweet scents of honeycomb.
Gizmo:Yeah. Mhmm.
Senator:Bingo. Orin syrup. Bingo. Correct. And brioche, balanced by a soft touch of spice.
Senator:I think that's pretty damn accurate.
Bam Bam:Very accurate. Very well written. Pagoda's the brioche expert.
Senator:Then it says we
Pagoda:What is craft brioche?
Senator:It says we craft our delicate fruity spirit, instills as tall as a giraffe to create more space for taste and aroma. Next, we aged the whiskey in bourbon cask and its sweet white wine cask from France, Spain, and Hungary for a stunning dessert like complexity. It's non chilled filtered, so you can enjoy its velvety full bodied texture, and I think that sums this spirit up perfectly.
Bam Bam:How much is that?
Rooster:$80. That's it?
Senator:Wow. A sixteen Sixteen year
Gizmo:years age.
Bam Bam:That is a true value.
Gizmo:Yeah. Wow. Actually, some of the other stuff that I was looking at were twelve years again, and we're seeing twelve years creeping up into the nineties. Wow. For a 16 and 80.
Gizmo:That's pretty reasonable.
Senator:For sure. This was one on that list I had sent you of like things we should review. Most of those are things we should try and they'll be kind of a wild card. This I've heard very, very good things about. I'm thrilled this is as good as advertising.
Bam Bam:Have you had this?
Senator:No. But I know people who have had, who have who really enjoyed it.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Love it.
Gizmo:So this is actually the sixth Glenmorangie we've done on the podcast. We've gone back to them a lot.
Bam Bam:That's incredible, actually.
Gizmo:It's pretty amazing, and we'll go through the ratings later, but overall, it's done pretty well on the podcast for being what I would call maybe a more budget friendly single malt scotch entry. Think they're one of the
Senator:most underrated scotch distillers, period.
Gizmo:I mean, I think the Glen's, the Glenlivet, the Glenmorangie, all three have done Yeah. There have been hits and misses, right, across all of them, but they've done pretty damn well. Like, the Glenfiddich 12, the green bottle is fantastic. That's a great drink.
Senator:And Glenmorangie, at every level, we did the ten year, and that was the episode where I said I really hated the old ten year. They changed it, and that did really well. Their 12 is good, their 16 is really good, their 18 we've done is excellent. There is so much in their catalog, it's crazy.
Gizmo:This has definitely elevated the evening so far. I will say though, the cigar, the retrohale, is really turning around nicely for me.
Bam Bam:So I will also say, I've slowed down my pace of smoke. That has helped improve the way this is smoking and the flavor profile at touch. I agree. It brings a little sweetness in, and it gives it a nice balance that I wasn't getting at all in that first inch.
Chef Ricky:I don't know that it's your pace of smoke, because mine rounded out too, so I think it's something in the blend at this point.
Bam Bam:Oh, I deliberately slowed down.
Senator:I did the same, and when the cigar felt cooler, the flavor profile was much better.
Bam Bam:100% agreed.
Gizmo:All right boys, let's go to some news now. We have an interesting one here. We're gonna start with this one. Big, big story that we've gone over a bunch, talking about Chen Xi, friend of the program, of course, on death row in China.
Bam Bam:Was there a dismemberment?
Gizmo:No. There was no dismemberment yet, but actually, there kinda was because Fifth Avenue, who is the German distributor of Cuban cigars, has had to pause deliveries due to severe banking issues. So Fifth Avenue Products Trading, the distributor of Cuban cigars in Austria, Germany, and Poland, informed its clients that it was unable to take and deliver new orders due to what the company said were temporary banking restrictions. And so we're gonna put temporary in quotes because I have what I believe is an update unconfirmed, but we'll talk about that in a second. By the way, this is coming from Half Wheel.
Gizmo:Charlie over there should win a Pulitzer for his coverage of this Chen G stuff, has made it very easy for us to share this with listeners and for us to get our conversation started around it. So shout out to those guys. A letter sent to retailers from 5th Avenue cited, quote, ongoing compliance and sanctions review affecting one of our shareholders. Of course, we know who that is, Cigar, who owns 28.5% stake in Habanos SA and also owns a stake in Fifth Avenue. Because remember what we talked about with Habanos going in and forcing the distributors to give them back a piece of the actual distribution business to take a larger piece of the pie.
Gizmo:So Habanos entered over the last couple years, entered these companies as partners, and now because of the sanctions against him, has kind of created this poison pill that is starting to this domino effect of these distributors having serious issues paying their bills, receiving money, paying money. Banks are just closing their accounts. Let me read the note to you here. This was sent by Christophe Putskar, the managing director of Fifth Avenue. We would like to inform you today about a temporary restriction in our business operations in connection with an ongoing compliance and sanctions review affecting one of our shareholders, Xi of course, our banking connections are currently subject to temporary restrictions.
Gizmo:This is currently causing limitations in the processing of our ongoing business practices. For this reason, we are unfortunately unable to accept any new orders or ship any goods until further notice. These measures are necessary to ensure the legal and organizational framework for all parties involved. They are not expressly related to the quality of our products, our services, or our existing business relationships. So they're trying to work through it.
Gizmo:Now I heard, and this is unconfirmed, this is a rumor. I heard that Fifth Avenue, because of this, is having to declare insolvency, liquidate the business, because there's really no easy way to disconnect from the shareholder, so they might have to start another operation. And then the question is, what happens? Does Habanos resign them to distributorship? Does Habanos come in and take the distributorship over?
Gizmo:We know they're not really the nicest as far as old relationships go. So it's, again, it's incredible to me how one man Well, I have questions. Has disrupted the industry so significantly, Cubans and non Cubans, all with these ill gotten gains
Bam Bam:So hold
Gizmo:on. From stealing money from people around the
Bam Bam:world. Was a shareholder, so he invested in this company, correct?
Gizmo:He was a part owner.
Bam Bam:Okay, part owner. Ownership agreements, a lot of terms and conditions allow for a partner who does an illegal deed and
Gizmo:is Yeah, not go in jail or something wrong.
Bam Bam:So there are provisions in an agreement to partition off that person from the rest of the company, so the company survives. I'm sure they had an agreement For them to lose
Senator:their ownership stake if they basically violate the terms of the agreement, which is that they have to operate in good faith, or
Bam Bam:What they to I don't understand is how the entire corporation has to go bankrupt with this type of protection in place that they should've had.
Gizmo:I think it's
Bam Bam:just It's business one zero one, by the way.
Gizmo:I think it's so messy from a sanction standpoint that the banks wanna clear their, wash their hands of it. We don't want anything to do with this. This is not the EU coming in and saying, you've not successfully expelled the bad member. The banks are saying, we don't want your business. Go elsewhere.
Gizmo:And the other banks are saying, we don't want your business. Go elsewhere. So these guys, their hands are tied because they have a business with a red line underneath it, The banks don't want to have their money in their accounts.
Rooster:But I think there's a bigger issue, which is production and distribution of Habanos. Panama, Pagoda was just in Panama. There were no cigars at the LCDH. I mean, that's not It was empty.
Bam Bam:Yeah, that has nothing to do with this person. Right.
Rooster:So what I'm saying is the issue is bigger than just this guy. Think it's
Pagoda:also Probably not making money.
Gizmo:They're not we've talked a lot about what's going on in Cuba. Right? So they're not making as many cigars. We know that. It's physically impossible.
Gizmo:They're having difficulty getting it off the island because of these sanctions. People are having difficulty paying Habanos for cigars even when Chenji's not involved. So the banking relationships there are difficult because of the sanctions, which are not just US sanctions. They're also EU sanctions. You got Chinese sanctions.
Gizmo:You got sanctions from everywhere. Right? That makes it incredibly difficult to pay Habanos, period. Like, Hunters and Franco is having challenges in The UK. They got an earlier start than Fifth Avenue did.
Gizmo:But a lot of Europe is this is gonna happen because of this one guy. So now the retail shops in Germany, Poland, and Austria literally can't place orders for those Habano cigars. Let's say they were available, Brewster. They can't even order them and get them and pay for them to have products on their shelves.
Bam Bam:Gotta call Alertino, George Padron.
Rooster:But why can't Habanos just sever ties with this guy?
Pagoda:Yeah. They should just buy them out. But
Rooster:there's no reason to buy them out. I mean,
Bam Bam:he's stuck. No buying
Rooster:out. Buying at So
Bam Bam:whatever money he invested in Cuba
Rooster:that's all gone.
Bam Bam:Well, or not, that money has to be somewhere.
Gizmo:What he did is he purchased a piece of Habanos S.
Bam Bam:A. I know.
Gizmo:He purchased that from, I think, Allied Imports or something. So that was a transactional piece Through Allied. That he bought their piece of it He years purchased a piece of it and took that equity stake.
Bam Bam:Yeah, so that partnership can be terminated based on all the events that he's going through.
Gizmo:I think that's easy for us to say sitting here.
Bam Bam:It's a business
Gizmo:I don't know if it's that easy with a guy in China on death row.
Senator:In mind also, I mean, the guy hasn't been convicted yet. Correct?
Bam Bam:He's indicted, but not convicted.
Senator:Right. But you can't get someone out of a partnership agreement unless they've been found guilty of violating the agreement.
Bam Bam:But their partnership can be put in stasis until the results of this trial or whatever it may be.
Senator:Yeah. But they can't get rid of him. And the problem is what he's pointing out is that these banks won't touch him that business with him involved. You see, I think get him out until this is adjudicated, which is gonna take, I'm sure, while.
Bam Bam:It's true. Banks Probably. These banks are being extremely shortsighted. They should honor the agreement that they have in place with the business because this person has clearly been separated from that business.
Senator:Yeah, but they don't work that way. I mean, Pagoda
Bam Bam:They're extremely conservative
Gizmo:about They're risk averse
Bam Bam:with Yeah, this you're right.
Senator:You're absolutely right. Even Donald Trump, like anyone who's been involved in any type of scandal whatsoever, like banks have just said, like, we're not gonna
Gizmo:touch you because
Senator:of the reputational risk.
Pagoda:By the way, it's just one letter that goes out, and they sell the money, and the account is gonna be sent to the address on file. One check, and you're out. Please close the accounts within thirty days.
Bam Bam:Wow, wow.
Pagoda:And they don't need to justify anything.
Gizmo:They can do whatever they want, right? That's the banking Interesting, wow. So it's really put an additional layer of strain. So we've got the Cuba problem that Rooster brought up. We've got the payment problem to Habanos.
Gizmo:Now you've got these distributorship going on in Europe, which, by the way, let's not forget, a lot of these European countries are now cracking down on tobacco. Think about how many stories. How many stories have I told with you guys here over the last six months of this country is banning cigars. This country is banning it. The UK, not in Europe, but The UK just about to get into plain packaging.
Gizmo:Certainly, I Well, we'll generational bans.
Bam Bam:We'll all be moving into the forest with our backpacks and our cigars
Senator:and our towers
Bam Bam:and be on the run.
Gizmo:Yeah. I mean, it's crazy.
Bam Bam:Old moonshiners. Exactly.
Gizmo:So I'm again, I'm just blown away. I I really I'm I'm not being facetious when I say I can't wait for the Netflix documentary on this guy and this story because it's so crazy that one guy could disrupt the entire world of premium handmade cigars. Because let's not forget, he also disrupted Altadis with Tabaklara Garcia ownership. Literally, they could not bring cigars in from the largest cigar making factory in the world. Altadis could not bring cigars into The United States for about six months.
Gizmo:Unbelievable. I mean, it's crazy because of this one guy. Yeah. So I saw a comment somewhere. I think it was Alex Groom on Foeh said said something like, not for good reason, but this guy might be the most influential man of the twenty first century in tobacco.
Gizmo:And I mean, that's a crazy and sad statement, but I think it's probably
Bam Bam:Andrew, most infamous character.
Gizmo:So we'll move on now. And this one is I'm just sharing this. It's pure irony. It was announced about a week ago that there's a new Cuban double corona for Germany celebrating
Rooster:5th Avenue. They can't get
Bam Bam:it there.
Rooster:I swear to God.
Gizmo:This was announced like September 1. The Port Loringaaga thirty fifth anniversary celebrates the milestone for German distributor Fifth Avenue. So they are literally a week ago announcing a cigar with Habano celebrating thirty five years in business, and today unable to transact
Pagoda:Well, the news hasn't reached Cuba yet. Alright? It's going back.
Bam Bam:Can't make it, but they'll announce it.
Senator:Next, Chen G's gonna be nominated for Habanos man of the year.
Gizmo:Very well could be. We you know, he could be nominating himself.
Rooster:They'll just take that band that says for Germany. They'll put
Gizmo:something country on it. That's all. So a new large Cuban cigar according to CA will soon be appearing in cigar shops across Germany. I don't believe that. The Porto Arnaga Thirty Fifth Anniversary, a regional edition Alamania, of course, Spanish word for Germany.
Gizmo:The cigar is a promenente, which is a double corona, 49 by seven and five eighths inches long, coming in cabinets of 50. 50 cabs rooster. Only 2,000 boxes will be made, each of them individually numbered, and each cigar will be retailing for around $40. So the box of fifty fifty cab will be about $2,000.
Bam Bam:To be delivered in about ten years.
Gizmo:Yes. So these if they make them, let's start there. Yeah. Correct. They get them out of Cuba.
Gizmo:Mhmm. If they can get them into Germany
Bam Bam:On pontoon boats.
Gizmo:And then if they can get them from the distributorship to the retail shops, maybe someone will be able to get their hands on this. But that is just ironic, the timing on both of those things. And honestly, it's quite sad. I feel terrible. I mean, Fifth Avenue has been in business since 1989.
Gizmo:I I the fact that they're celebrating thirty five years and now turning around a week later and they're probably going to be in a situation where they have to reform their company. I mean, it's just That's lunacy. Crazy, crazy work. So boys, we've come to the end of the first third here on the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez Carrillo, the Toro paired with this Glenmorangie, 16 years age, at the Nectar. What's everybody thinking?
Senator:So right now, for me, something is changing dramatically in a good way. I'm getting, like, a blast of saltiness. Yeah. It's more
Rooster:savory for sure. Yeah.
Senator:There's still some sweetness for me, but there's also like a little bit of cream. It's it's much more pleasant right now than everything prior to it. So something is changing, and I hope that this continues.
Bam Bam:Mhmm. It's definitely better. I'm a little suspicious that it may be the extremely long finish of the spirit that's helping it possibly. Yeah. But I think the
Gizmo:same I will respect say I haven't had a sip since I started talking about No,
Bam Bam:he's right. Irrespective It of definitely different. Irrespective of the drink.
Senator:And the spirit is very sweet. I'm not getting a blast of sweetness. Not at It's like this saltiness,
Rooster:in a It's good creamy and salty.
Bam Bam:You know what it is? I think it has gotten creamier, and I agree with the salt, but I'm getting almost I am starting to get a bready thing happening, just faintly. I can see that. It's just just coming in there a little bit.
Pagoda:And for me, it hasn't changed that much. But, you know, which is what I've been describing, the nutty saltiness.
Gizmo:Mhmm.
Chef Ricky:A little
Pagoda:bit of the so I'm I'm sure we're getting something very similar.
Senator:Like this right now, the last two draws are actually very enjoyable.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I agree. We're kind of at the same point all through halfway through the second, third, more or less.
Gizmo:I'm finding it to be much better now than it was. And like I said, I haven't picked up the drinks since I started talking about Shengie.
Bam Bam:I want hear from chef. No. I because you're a skeptic. I could tell.
Chef Ricky:No. No. No. I I experienced what you guys are now probably about fifteen, ten, fifteen trials ago. So I think it's gonna flip again.
Chef Ricky:As I said earlier, it just kind of takes these right angle turns. Hopefully it doesn't like it. It's not as sweet as that moment for me that you guys are having now, but it's maintained some level of nuttiness, creaminess. But it's definitely that that that that that hyper creamy sort of burst of cream and some a touch of bread. It came and went, but now it's a little bit more rounded.
Chef Ricky:But I miss what senator's getting. I want it to stay like that. So I'm curious to see if it stays like that for you guys
Bam Bam:or what? Not super happy with the ash. It's kind of turning into a rosebud.
Pagoda:That's all it would be.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Oh, yes, it is.
Chef Ricky:It's been a while. Give him some credit.
Bam Bam:Your blue pants are turning
Chef Ricky:gray
Gizmo:as we sit here. You know,
Rooster:you should wear gray
Pagoda:sweaters. No, no, this is so that you all can see how the Ash is performing. I'm very thoughtful about it. You know?
Bam Bam:I thank you for that.
Gizmo:Thank you. Yeah. On on behalf of the listeners, thank you. It gives us a good canvas to study the Ash performance. Let's go to another news story now.
Gizmo:We're gonna go back to Cuba boys. Another sad one coming out of there, but I, you know, I like data and I like sharing this here because it's a really tough time in Cuba as we know. So this is coming from cubajournal.com. So they were detailing the significant decrease in international visitors over the first seven months of the year this year. So apparently, the decline is 63.
Gizmo:Year over year, they've lost 63% of tourists. That is a decrease of almost 710,000 visitors in that seven month period. So there are about 100,000 visitors a month down year over year.
Bam Bam:It makes sense.
Gizmo:And let's not forget twenty twenty five was rough. Yeah, you know, that wasn't, you know, cupcake either. So think about where this was compared to pre COVID or during the Obama It's probably
Rooster:a million plus.
Gizmo:You're talking large numbers Yeah. Of You know, because the folks who go there for beaches like the Russian tourists, Canadian tourists, European tourists, they're not going there, really.
Bam Bam:Yeah, they've shut down all the hotels. Yeah, everything's shut.
Pagoda:So it's like, yeah. I hope the people are doing alright. I know that's a tough one.
Gizmo:I'll give you an example. In July of this year, they recorded 32,000 international visitors for the entire month. It's a thousand people a day. In July 25, it was a 143,000. So that's a significant drop in tourists.
Gizmo:So like Pagoda said, obviously, is resulting in, you know, the tourism engine that really drives Cuba's economy is rapidly shutting down.
Bam Bam:So you go. Where do you stay? How do you get around? Gas is scarce. Food is scarce.
Bam Bam:Electricity is scarce.
Gizmo:It makes sense. It seems like the electricity situation is not as bad as I was expecting it to be today. It seems like they're getting fuel and somehow I don't know how, but it's not great by any means, but I would have expected there been total collapse and it'd be out for weeks at a time or just off period. But that hasn't happened yet. Thankfully, especially given that, you know, we're just wrapping up the summer here.
Gizmo:But yeah, it's a it's a really sad situation. What about the restaurants?
Rooster:How are they functioning? Can they
Gizmo:get food? I don't know. Plus, there's no tourists going there to eat it. Right.
Senator:Cha Cha Cha is making food. I still see their posts.
Gizmo:Are they still on the Instagram?
Bam Bam:I was about to say, I'd like to I'd like to get some Cha Cha Cha.
Gizmo:I love that place.
Rooster:Cinco Santidos.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:Let's do another news story now. This one coming from our friend, Rafael Nadal. The Nicaraguan Monte Cristo Espada Conquistador is now shipping. The cigar is made by Placencia. It's their first partnership with Placencia.
Gizmo:So, apparently, the Monte Cristo Espada Conquistador represents our continued commitment to evolving the Espada line, says Nadal. By working with the Placencia family and utilizing exceptional Nicaraguan tobaccos, we've created a cigar that delivers balance, complexity, refinement while staying true to the heritage of Monte Cristo. Coming in four sizes, the Ricasso, 54 ring gauge by five, the Guard, 50 by six, the Keyon, 56 by seven, and the Magnum Especial, 60 by six, all coming in 10 count boxes. MSRP on each of those is between 20 and $23. So this cigar is made by the Placencia family with Placencia tobacco.
Gizmo:So we have some friends in the lounge here, Lizard Obey, who was actually on two weeks ago recapping senator's big birthday soiree. Smoked one of these cigars the other day, said it was very, very good. So I haven't had one yet, but he said he was really enjoying it.
Chef Ricky:I can't wait to see Senator PostNL plus Cigars.
Senator:The jury's still out.
Bam Bam:Finally. Worth trying.
Pagoda:It's it's just a no. Onto Rocky Patel next.
Gizmo:We have we have Iraqi coming up for review. We have a Placencia coming up for review. We have a lot of good stuff coming up for review.
Senator:Starting to feel sick. I think I'm going on vacation.
Gizmo:Yeah. You were the one that suggested the Rocky.
Rooster:Allergies are coming on. I don't know.
Gizmo:Which one
Bam Bam:is it? Is it the decade? Sapphire.
Pagoda:It was a blue sapphire.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Another news story now. This one I think you guys are gonna find comical. So a municipality in California called Corte Madera has moved forward with a total tobacco and nicotine sales ban. So, apparently, if you enter Marin County, which is North of San Francisco, to the town of Corte Madera, he will not be able to purchase tobacco, vaping, or any nicotine products.
Gizmo:What about weed? So I'll let you know about that. The town council voted three to two in favor of an ordinance that will ban the sale of all tobacco and nicotine products, except devices that have been approved by the US FDA as cessation devices. So nicotine gum, nicotine patches, I guess you be able to get those things at local pharmacies, but nothing else. So apparently, they'll have another vote on this, and the law will take effect February first of next year if it happens.
Gizmo:Banning the sales of tobacco and vaping products both in person and those ordered online to be delivered to the residents in town.
Bam Bam:Unbelievable. Wow.
Gizmo:That is the that is the sticker.
Bam Bam:Isn't that completely anti American? I mean
Senator:Well, sorry. There's also no way to enforce that.
Gizmo:There's no way to enforce that. But the fact that they that this The town council
Senator:They can't tell the USPS to exclusively scan packages coming into that town in Marin County. I mean, that's absurd. It can't even happen.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Maybe they can track
Pagoda:this send off the bat. To
Bam Bam:your house.
Gizmo:The fact that this group of Karens sat down in this town council and said, You know what we're gonna do? We're gonna fix this for our residents. We're gonna stop them from shitting I tobacco in. As if it was like anthrax or something.
Bam Bam:Can I drive to the neighboring town, buy something, buy a cigar, and come back to my house?
Gizmo:Well, that would be you technically delivering it back to your house, so I would think on the span, it would be prohibited. Five
Bam Bam:be o waiting in my house.
Pagoda:Are you allowed to smoke it in your house?
Gizmo:Don't know. Probably not.
Pagoda:How far are we from Very
Gizmo:close. So they have a population of around 10,000 people, and it's crazy. So there's a quote here in Half Wheel from the folks of total wine, which has a store in Corte Madera. Apparently, there's no exemption for anyone who's exist. There's no grandfathering nothing.
Gizmo:So this is coming from Matt Ernesto, the director of state and local government and industry affairs for total wine and more obviously total wine with the biggest alcohol retailers and by proxy, one of the largest cigars retailers in the country because they have cigars at most or if not all of their stores. He says, on behalf of Total Wine and More and our Corte Madera store team, we fully support the council's underlying goal of preventing youth access to nicotine products. However, we respectfully request a targeted amendment to the draft tobacco retail ordinance to exempt the sale of premium high end cigars when sold within strictly age gated retail environments. Customers visit our stores to celebrate life's milestones, graduation and engagement, or simply the end of a great week. Premium cigars are an adult oriented luxury product enjoyed during these occasions, fundamentally distinct from the flavored vapes, pouches, and electronic devices driving youth nicotine addiction.
Gizmo:Very well read. Great quote.
Rooster:I mean, imagine if you own a cigar store, a cigar lounge in that city.
Bam Bam:Yeah, you're done.
Rooster:They just put you out of
Gizmo:business like you're done. At least the folks in The UK, generational tobacco ban, they have like a runway to the end of their business if that stays So in
Rooster:they're basically telling you you have till February, if this thing passes, you have to shut your doors.
Pagoda:Unbelievable. This is embarrassing.
Gizmo:So, you know, talking about a little municipality here on the podcast, you know, it's a drop in the bucket, obviously. But once these things get rolling and other towns see this stuff, Senator, maybe you can comment a little better than I can on this. But monkey see, monkey do. Right?
Senator:I mean, is this not something There's always a domino effect. If you look at any form of regulation, it either starts in Europe, then it comes here, or it starts in small municipalities and it grows statewide, or it starts statewide and then you start seeing a ton of states across the country adopt it. So all of it's a problem, all of it needs to be combated, and I hope that they're at least able to get a carve out for premium handmade cigars.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Pagoda:Where's judge Method? That's right.
Gizmo:We gotta, yeah, we gotta elevate this to the federal level.
Senator:No. I mean, honestly, they should sue. It's at this point
Gizmo:So that's what's
Senator:violation of people's individual liberties to be able to purchase a product that is legal federally and within the state Who would file the an adult.
Rooster:Who would file the lawsuit?
Gizmo:PCA, CIAA? CIAA?
Bam Bam:When he got on the plane?
Gizmo:I am surprised. I was gonna say, senator, that none of the cigar rights associations as of this time, my understanding, PCA, CRA, CAA, any of them, I don't think any of them have filed suit against this municipality.
Bam Bam:Is it due to the fact that it's a teeny tiny
Senator:little town?
Rooster:I would
Gizmo:think so. Is that why?
Senator:It's not worth the legal expense now, but if it if it were to be a large like, if San Francisco did this, there would 100% be a lawsuit.
Gizmo:Here's the question. If you were to bring a lawsuit against this town, Just theoretically, and obviously they have their decision, their reasons
Rooster:for
Gizmo:Set not doing a precedent. If they were to knock this out clean, cold. Would it not show other towns like this is not something that's going to fly And it costs you way less money, way less effort. You're not even having to maybe even go to the state or federal level with it. I think
Bam Bam:the way less money thing is not possible. You got a point. That's gonna cost.
Senator:No, but not necessarily because it's like a game of whack a mole when this happens. That's the thing. Like, it it's
Gizmo:Just Karen's popping up
Bam Bam:Yeah. Trying to
Senator:hit him. Truly.
Gizmo:Like,
Senator:that's the problem. So you you kinda
Bam Bam:want Looking good over there.
Gizmo:Like that. I'm I'm doing like the gopher. The gopher's jumping out.
Senator:You kinda wanna hit the big one. Like, that's that's what you would go for there. And, like, even if it were a larger city or municipality, and then what if a state passed it like that? You want to get the big one and that's what would deter it from spreading further. But winning in this one municipality, it won't stop others from trying to do the same thing.
Bam Bam:Well, I'll ask again. When are you getting on a plane?
Senator:For the right price.
Bam Bam:Correct. You gotta get that invoice ready.
Chef Ricky:Soon as Iraqi Patel hits.
Senator:That's right.
Rooster:By way,
Gizmo:he won't be here next week. So so he'll be in hopefully in California fighting a good fight. Alright, boys. Let's go now to some listener email. We have a bunch of stuff to get to.
Gizmo:Obviously, the last few weeks, we've been busy yakking it up, but it's time to catch up on some email. We're gonna start here with our friend Lizard Glacier. Hi, Gizmo and team. First of all, thanks again for the great weekly content. I really enjoy the podcast and have learned a lot from you guys already.
Gizmo:Starting to get into Cuban cigars, and I have a few questions I was hoping you could help me with. I decided to start exploring Cubans now because I'm a little worried that they may become increasingly difficult or even impossible to get in Europe or the near future, as we know. Becoming? So I figured it was better to start buying some boxes while I still can. I recently ordered some of the classics you guys talk about often, Ras Magnum 46, Particus D four.
Gizmo:Since I also really enjoy smaller cigars and found some good deals, I also picked up some h upman half coronas and Majestics as
Bam Bam:well. Nice.
Gizmo:This brings me to a few newbie questions, and sorry in advance if those have already been answered, but that's okay. We always have new listeners who are looking for this info, and it's always good to keep a refresh on it because even in the room here, some folks don't follow the protocols, Bam.
Bam Bam:Not true.
Gizmo:How do you count the aging time for Cuban cigars? You often mention that Cuban cigars are quite different from New World cigars, and they generally benefit from at least one to two plus years of rest. Should I consider those one to two years from the moment the cigars arrive in my humidor or from the production date on the box? Some of the boxes I've purchased are very recent 2526 production, But I also have some boxes from production years 2324. So I'm wondering whether a '23 box should already be considered to have had those few years of aging, assuming it was properly stored.
Gizmo:Gonna go through his four questions here. We'll stop at each question.
Bam Bam:So that's the problem. Assuming it was properly stored, I think you'd have to say that the moment it hits your humidor is when the clock begins.
Gizmo:Wrong. Yeah. I I go it from the box.
Bam Bam:I wouldn't do that. I want it in my environment a certain amount of time before I smoke it.
Gizmo:Yeah, but that's a different That's acclimation. Yeah. Resting and aging That's
Bam Bam:what I'm talking about.
Gizmo:Resting and aging, but like say you want an age a cigar five years, it's from the boxed date. That's my policy.
Bam Bam:But you're not smoking that box as soon as you get it.
Senator:No. But that's a different question that somebody's asking.
Gizmo:Alright. Like acclimate, I think no matter what you do, no matter who you get it from, I think on a Cuban cigar, should be acclimating no less than ninety days, probably better to do six months. Yeah. Especially if you know the humidor and it's it's wet. Like if you get a twenty twenty one box.
Gizmo:From a retailer today, I wouldn't even look at that box for at least ninety days, maybe six months. Of course, newer production, I'd probably wait a little more. But. How do you guys view aging and resting?
Senator:I mean, by definition, it's suboxate. That's when it was actually produced, the idea of aging
Bam Bam:is
Senator:how much time that tobacco needs to mature to reach
Bam Bam:its peak. And you never really know that answer.
Senator:No. Which is why you have to try it, but you know when you
Bam Bam:try it.
Senator:Yeah. And even at you know, in this instance, let's say you get a young box, you let it acclimate for three months, try one.
Gizmo:Mhmm.
Senator:Always. And either you're gonna try it and say, wow, this smokes great, and you're gonna know, okay, this is a cigar that doesn't need much age to actually really be enjoyable, or you're gonna try and you're gonna be disappointed, and that's where you know you need to tuck that away for another year, maybe two, maybe even three.
Rooster:Sure. And there's a good chance that the I'm
Bam Bam:sorry, that's irregardless of the box date because it really depends on how it's smoking when you first get it. So you may need
Senator:to keep it a year. Let's just be clear.
Bam Bam:What? Acclimate? Irregardless. Yes. I'm sure
Rooster:it is.
Bam Bam:Look it up. Read a book. Toilet paper work.
Senator:That's just the toilet word. Toilet paper. That needs to be flushed.
Rooster:Yeah. Right on the toilet.
Senator:Got it. But no. The the box, it does matter in the sense that if you were to get a box that has five years of age on it, there's no box with five years that you are going to, once it acclimates, sit there and say
Bam Bam:That's true.
Senator:It needs another three years. Yeah. There's just none.
Bam Bam:Unless it's smoking like shit.
Rooster:Yeah. But if you have a box of RAS that's a 23 and another one that's 25 or 26, go through
Gizmo:smoke one
Rooster:out of each after the actualization period. And then go through probably your 23 box before you do the totally other box. Agree. But, you know, having said that, a lot of the fresher stuff that we have done,
Bam Bam:it's been good.
Rooster:They have smoked really good.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:There's some stuff from '23. Yeah. That if you buy today from a retailer in six months might taste better than something you buy from twenty twenty one. Who knows? Like, it it might might be the case.
Bam Bam:You know the funky thing about this this topic? I I and I'm sure most of you aren't like me, aren't diving deep into the your Cuban collections. I'm kind of out of knowing where my Cuban cigars are kind of at right now. I haven't had many.
Gizmo:Like in the process you're saying? Yeah. Not physically where they're at. No, no. Where they're at in their journey.
Bam Bam:Exactly.
Pagoda:Can help you with that now.
Bam Bam:First, if you get a nouveauge, clean that nose out, then you're in.
Pagoda:You just threw one in the garbage.
Bam Bam:I'm buying a new one tonight. Yeah. It's just I don't know. I haven't been into the Cuban collection. I don't know where they're at.
Bam Bam:I don't know how they're smoking. At one time, we were all smoking them almost every day or at least two, three days a week. So we can kind of gauge where everything was at. I am completely lost right now. I've got to go back and try them all.
Rooster:I mean, the fact that this lizard is buying these boxes at the current prices
Gizmo:is what's mind boggling. It's interesting.
Pagoda:Where is he buying them from?
Gizmo:He's in Europe.
Pagoda:All right.
Gizmo:Yeah. He's over in
Pagoda:No Germany.
Bam Bam:Probably not Germany.
Gizmo:I don't think it's Germany. Although this email came before that happened. But I don't think he's in Germany. All right. Question two.
Gizmo:Storage. Should Cubans be separated from New World cigars? I've actually seen this talked about online over the last couple weeks. I'm currently using airtight tupper doors. Do you recommend having a dedicated tupper door just for Cuban cigars, or is there no real issue with storing Cubans and New World cigars together?
Bam Bam:I think this is a personal choice, but for me, if I I have a ton of tupperdores, I don't like to commingle New Worlds and Cubans in a tupperdore, But in a tower, they commingle.
Rooster:Yeah. But you could you know, according to where you keep them
Bam Bam:Yeah. There's more separation of space.
Gizmo:There's air separation.
Rooster:We all have talked about keeping the Cubans around, like, 62% and keeping the new worlds a bit higher around 65%, 66%. So you could do the same thing in the tupperdur. No. Put some bovadas.
Bam Bam:But psychologically for me, coming back
Rooster:Not keep it separate, but keep the bovadas 162% and
Gizmo:the other one in a bit higher.
Bam Bam:I can't see myself commingling a New World in Cuban in a Tupperware.
Senator:I'll say this, just for accounting purposes, to keep track of what I have, it's just easier to have Cubans in a Tupperware and New Worlds in another. Otherwise, I'm digging through trying to I have no clue where everything is. Yep. But as far as commingling, I mean, cigars that are in boxes, I'm not worried about a New World box and a Cuban box if they end up being in the same Tupperware. Like, they're not truly commingling.
Senator:What I would worry about, and like in my tower when I have loose sticks
Rooster:Mhmm.
Senator:I have an entire, you know, shelf and tray that has all New Worlds loose and another on the next shelf or tray like Cubans. I wouldn't commingle those in the sense that like, I don't want a Cuban cigar, you know, literally touching, let's say, a Maduro wrapper that can be oily. Like, there's some weird transfer that can happen. I'm not I don't wanna risk messing up the flavor profile at all. So I just think physically not having them touch and commingle in that way is probably helpful.
Senator:But I think when they're in boxes, I wouldn't be in any way overly worried if a Cuban box is in the same container as a New World box.
Bam Bam:I would a little bit. I just can't do it.
Gizmo:Are you someone that when you get your plate of food, the food can't touch don't know why. No.
Chef Ricky:I'm kinda surprised.
Bam Bam:I love co mingling my plate. Really? Oh yeah. All the flavors, mixing.
Gizmo:Big mixer.
Bam Bam:Absolutely.
Gizmo:But not with your cigars. Correct. I will say, and this is a morbid thing to talk about, but I have thought about like, I do keep my stuff separate in my tupper doors. I probably have seven now, Tupper doors. I keep everything separate.
Gizmo:If there's something going on in my house, God forbid a flood, a fire, something going on, I need to know which Tupperware to grab. Like the new world is staying and I'm grabbing all Cubans because it's can't replace it. You know? So from that standpoint, I need easy grab.
Bam Bam:Evacuation plan. Correct.
Gizmo:Gotta have one on paper, baby.
Pagoda:Is your passport in one of the Tupperdos as well? Know, just By the
Gizmo:way, that thing has an air tag on it now. I heard myself saying it to you so many times.
Rooster:What's that? The passport.
Pagoda:The passport.
Senator:Mean, he lost his passport.
Rooster:What's an air tag? That's what Pagoda wants.
Senator:That's Pagoda. I
Pagoda:have four of them lying at all.
Gizmo:Number three, temperature and humidity. My 21 liter tupper doors, which is about five and a half US gallons, are stored at around 18 to 21 degrees Celsius. For us here, imperial 64 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit with RH generally between 6566%. I'm using Boveda 62% packs, my hygrometers have been calibrated using a Boveda calibration test. I've heard you mention aiming for around 64% RH for Cuban cigars.
Gizmo:Would you recommend trying to bring my humidity down slightly to around 64%, or would you leave things as they are at 65 to 66? So I think that this is a personal choice. Some folks like smoking their Cubans higher. I don't, as I think most of us like it a little lower.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:Here's what I'll say. If you are purchasing stuff from a retail store today, you go home and put it in your Tupper door with 62% Boveda, your Tupper doors are going to run hot because the Boveda is not going to be effective in pulling that humidity out of those boxes and cigars fast enough for there to be any meaningful acclimation happening in the Tupper door. So if you're long term storing your Cubans in your Tupper door and they're sitting at 64, 65, 66, who cares really? But if this is what you're reaching into to smoke, I think you need to get those 60 twos out of there, put 58% bovis in there, and start pulling humidity down. And I think you're gonna see a little bit more of a dramatic decrease in that humidity.
Senator:I completely agree with Giz. I think for anything you're gonna smoke, my preference is a Cuban cigar at 62. For long term storage and aging, I'll have a 62 Boveda that can you know, if it runs high, it's going to at max go to 65. And for long term aging, I have zero problem with that. I even think it can be preferable.
Senator:That's my
Rooster:Another recommendation would be to get a humidor. Nothing expensive.
Bam Bam:A desktop.
Rooster:Take out desktop humidor and take out singles out of the boxes. Put it
Gizmo:in that. With a 58 or a 49? Yeah. Even a 49. I've used 49s in the summer to pull it down.
Gizmo:Absolutely. When it's humid.
Bam Bam:Keep them in there for three weeks before you smoke
Rooster:them.
Gizmo:Even less, depending on where you're at. But I think, like Senator said, I don't think there should be any fear of going back to the earlier question about resting, aging, all that stuff, keeping your cigars 65, 66. You just don't want be in a mold situation. You don't want to be in a situation where it's too hot or cold, but there's a larger, I think, parameter of humidity when you're resting an agent.
Bam Bam:Keep in mind our friend Juan Moya Yeah. Who we love. He keeps his cigars at
Gizmo:He's one of, like, 72. He rolls her 72% bovis, man.
Pagoda:Oh, yeah. But most door
Bam Bam:rolls He thinks we're crazy,
Pagoda:but at around 72.
Gizmo:I know. But by the way, shout out to Juan Moya. He's amazing.
Bam Bam:Juan, If go we love
Gizmo:to Grand Cayman, old Havana cigars in Grand Cayman, go see Juan Moya. He's an amazing dude. Yep. But he likes his stuff a little hotter, you're gonna need to pull that down when you walk out of Juan's store if you like your stuff closer to
Bam Bam:Put them 60 in 60
Gizmo:leave it out on the beach. So, yeah, that's what I would say there, and I think we're all in agreement with that stuff. Number four, I think this is the biggest personal question, and I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this. How do I know when a Cuban cigar is actually ready? This one is probably the trickiest one for me.
Gizmo:The general advice is to let Cuban cigars age for a certain amount of time. How do you determine when they're actually ready to smoke? I have very little experience with Cuban cigars, so I'm afraid I won't necessarily be able to tell whether a cigar is ready or whether it would benefit from another year or two of aging. Is there anything specific I should look for, or is it simply a matter of smoking them at different stages and learning how they develop?
Chef Ricky:So if I could go first here, because I feel like I'm the newbie when it comes to Cubans. I think what I've come to learn, the rounder the flavor profile is, the more cohesive it is.
Bam Bam:You look like you're going through a calculus equation while
Pagoda:he's speaking.
Chef Ricky:The more that flavor is just, it's married together and it's delivering sweet, nutty, floral, salty, nothing sharp.
Pagoda:I was about to say option B.
Gizmo:This is the pagoda shank we are famous for. Wow. Go ahead. No, continue. Ignore him.
Bam Bam:I think we said it a moment ago, you gotta try a cigar at each stage.
Senator:I'm gonna keep it far simpler.
Gizmo:Me too.
Senator:When you light that cigar and you say, wow, it's ready to smoke. Yeah. Cuban tobacco, we've talked about. It's special. It's different.
Senator:It's unique.
Bam Bam:Yep.
Senator:And so if you don't like that cigar, and you are not taken aback in some way, like this is so delicious and different from what you normally would experience from a new world, then it's not ready. But if you have that wow moment, it's literally just that one word, you're ready to smoke that cigar.
Bam Bam:Preach, homeboy.
Gizmo:And I think I'll also preach on something.
Chef Ricky:Well, now you guys don't know what it takes to make me say wow.
Gizmo:I think the question that he asks here, is it simply a matter of smoking them at different stages and learning how they develop? I think it's about your development of your palate. And I think that obviously smoking cigars is really important to that process, but it's sitting down and being a little microscopic about the process. Don't turn away the enjoyment of it, the fun or the group environment, But I think studying how it's going, what you're experiencing, and really thinking on it, not just sitting in a room with a bunch of guys like we do in the lounge over here, not what we do here on the podcast. We're certainly under microscope here.
Gizmo:But I think that you need to find cigars that are within your budget that you can smoke regularly to start to develop your palate. Understand what cigars are working, what aren't, what are ready, what are not, and then save the unicorns for those moments when you're ready for that wow moment like Senator's talking about.
Senator:I agree with all that. The only other thing I would add is, you know, my comment was about understanding when that Cuban cigar is ready for the first time to potentially enter some kind of rotation or even just be smoked once or twice a year and you know you're gonna be happy with it. The other the the other side of that is figuring out like, well, how much better can it get? Yes. And that's where I think I've said this many times.
Senator:I think it's really important, like, for a lot of those boxes, and Ben was mentioning, like, hasn't been in his collection as much as he used to, so he's not really sure where they are in their stage in a lot of those boxes. The only way to know that is, like, once a year, pull something from
Bam Bam:it. Yeah.
Senator:And when you, you know, you let's say you light that cigar, and for the first time you say, wow. Okay. Now it is in a maturation stage that's, like, worth going to and smoking. Now you light that same cigar a year from then. If you have that same wow, but it's no different, it's just as good, it hasn't gotten any better, okay, it's holding steady.
Senator:You try the next year. Maybe it gets better. You're even more blown away. But if you've tried that cigar, and for three or four straight years and you've had one a year, it you're having the exact same experience, then you know it is within its peak that may last for several years, and you know it's as ready to smoke as it's probably ever gonna be, you should dip into that whenever you want.
Gizmo:And it also could be damn well mediocre. I mean Correct. Not every box of Cupid cigars No. For how you said it perfectly, Senator. Cupid cigars you know, Cupid tobacco is special.
Gizmo:There's really some magic in in in Cupid cigars. That's not the case with every box.
Bam Bam:No. There's also duds.
Gizmo:There's duds in every box.
Bam Bam:Cuban being Cuban.
Gizmo:Most of the boxes you're gonna have And there's some
Senator:Cuban blends
Gizmo:that are just not that great. Correct. And that's where you can go to our ratings guide and see what we think about it.
Bam Bam:Exactly
Gizmo:right. As a group, but also individually, find the palate you align with the most or two or three and follow along. You can reference there. But I think it's just a matter of doing it. He's in a fortunate position where he's able to access them, number one.
Gizmo:And number two, he can afford them. So he's where we were five, six, seven years ago. You know, at the beginning of this journey, I mean, that's an exciting time for a smoker. I would suggest, though, don't overbuy until you're confident that you know what you like.
Bam Bam:That's great advice.
Gizmo:Because I think that we all, thankfully for us, I think it was more in the non Cuban space. Buying cigars, you know, in bulk that maybe aren't the right fit, you realize six months later, like, oh shit, I actually don't like that. My palate's developed, etcetera. So I think you need to be smart with your money, smart with your palate, and understand how all those things tie together.
Bam Bam:Our scenario was a little different. I don't know. I can't speak for the rest of you, but I bought in bulk in the Cuban market, and I haven't ever sold a box, but a few of you have sold. Really?
Chef Ricky:Sold a box.
Gizmo:Wow, man.
Senator:That's news to us.
Bam Bam:Hold on. Prior to my manager's assistant
Gizmo:into my eyes and
Rooster:say that with a straight face.
Gizmo:I can't.
Bam Bam:But prior to my manager's assistant, y'all have sold cigars over the years because Cuban boxes because you found you didn't like the cigar or it wasn't for you. You can do that. But doing it now because of how expensive they are, that is a very tough thing to do, and to be able to afford it. I'm just saying.
Gizmo:We were just laughing in your face now.
Bam Bam:We were fortunate enough to be able to buy a lot of Cuban cigars at great prices. You can't do that now.
Gizmo:Yeah. I mean, our cigars, I would've, you
Bam Bam:know Alright. I said I'll I'm done.
Senator:Just look into his eyes.
Bam Bam:I am.
Gizmo:You're gonna make Rooster What would you like to say?
Pagoda:Isn't there a so I
Rooster:couldn't imagine. He answered his own question. I will say, I think we were
Gizmo:in a fortunate position and, you know, Lizard Glacier can't be in this position because of our friend of the program, Chen Ji, and his decisions. But we, in hindsight, our collections really were investments. I think our collections likely outperformed most of the stock indexes.
Bam Bam:The S and P.
Gizmo:Honestly, if you think on a multiple of what some of this stuff is worth, boxes you're buying for $200, you could sell them now for $121,500 on Bon Roberts, even more. I mean, that's crazy multiples. Know, buying the Trinidad box of Fundadores for $500, selling it for what did you sell it for? $2,022.07.
Pagoda:That's $7.50 or something.
Gizmo:$27.50. That's a crazy multiple.
Bam Bam:It's insane.
Gizmo:That was a little different for us.
Rooster:You know what? We were also lucky that we were able to find boxes from different years.
Gizmo:So let's
Rooster:say you like D4. We were at that time able to access a box from 2014, '15, '16, 1921. You Try it all. So I'm not sure if Lizard Glacier, that's his name. If he's able to access those, you know?
Gizmo:He can if he's on Bon Roberts and he has the budget. But I don't know about a retail store. I'm assuming that
Rooster:But I think he can also access singles so he can understand more about the market, what he really likes.
Senator:That's also another important element of this, what Rooster was saying around the years because, you know, he's asking about aging before, and it's not just the case that like let's say he has a 2018 box and he ages that for four years, and that is necessarily better than a 2020 box of a certain cigar. Like, they go on runs. And so, like, when you do try those different years, you will learn and experience like, oh, wow. You know this box that I bought that was 2016 that I thought would outperform this 2018 box, this '18 box is actually much better, and it's so dependent on the individual cigar and that box that you happen to procure. So that's where you have to try, and you'll just learn based on that particular blend and those different years what you prefer.
Rooster:You know, also the factory codes where the cigar was made has a lot
Bam Bam:to do with it. Yes.
Senator:It does and it doesn't. Mean, we've talked about this because we've had some, like, odd codes that have performed well and great codes that haven't. Like, I thought our conclusion at some point, and I think Giz actually was, like, driving the bus on this one. Like, it's not necessarily the case that, you know, if you just pursue certain great factory codes, you're gonna have necessarily a better experience. It was more like the year and just some luck in what you get.
Gizmo:Hoping that you're to hit the lottery on the tobacco quality. Yeah. But there's no guarantee you're going to hit the the the lottery on cigar quality because, again, going back to why that's the case, I believe
Rooster:Comes down to the tobacco. I mean, it's
Gizmo:the box. Well, it comes down to tobacco. But let's say you have one good cigar. The cigars are color matched. You buy a box of 25 cigars, that could have been rolled by 25 different people, having 25 different kinds of days, 25 different home situations, 25 different things on their mind when they rolled that individual cigar and they're color matching it so it looks pretty.
Gizmo:But the consistency in that box, you're not buying a roller. Right. But they're buying that tobacco
Rooster:stuff to Tobacco is from the same run.
Gizmo:Exactly.
Rooster:So if you get a twenty fourteen box, somehow you're able to find them, that's a phenomenal run. Twenty fourteen, 20 15. But there's
Gizmo:certainly gonna be misses in those cigars.
Senator:Totally. And like the perfect example is like right now, think of what's happening in Cuba. There's no way that the quality of rolling right now, given what these folks are going through in Cuba, is better than it was three or five years ago.
Rooster:No way. It's impossible for that feed
Gizmo:your kids, I'm sorry you're not rolling good cigars. Exactly. And that's I'm I'm sorry. That's even a disgusting statement that that came out of my mouth. I know.
Gizmo:But it's the reality of
Bam Bam:that.
Senator:Totally. And that's why I'm just saying, like, you can have from a mother factory code, a current, you know, box, let's say, and a provincial factory from three to five years ago when people had power for a majority of the day in Cuba, And the odds of the construction of that cigar is gonna be better from three or five years ago is infinitely higher than right now where how can you blame these people? I mean, it's awful what the the conditions that they're having to
Bam Bam:deal with.
Gizmo:Yeah. And also, I mean, if there's no electricity at the factory, if they're even rolling or able to, there's no draw machine, there's no lights. I mean, you're really It's like you're working with blinders on in the dark.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:You It's like you have a hand tied behind your back.
Rooster:Ideally, if Cuba can grow enough tobacco, they should be able to take the tobacco and have the cigar sold somewhere else.
Bam Bam:But they can't grow enough tobacco.
Rooster:If they can. It's hypothetical. You know, if they can.
Bam Bam:If I had $20,000,000 cash.
Gizmo:I could do
Rooster:a lot. Rollers.
Gizmo:The problem is yeah. There's I mean, there's just
Senator:The problem is everything.
Gizmo:The compounding level of tobacco, it's the
Senator:rolling, it's the conditions there. It's everything.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's it's pretty sinful. So following up here, finishing up with Lizard Glacier on this great email. He says, thanks again for all the fantastic content and for taking the time to read and answer all these questions. Keep up the great work.
Gizmo:Cheers, Lizard Glacier. Great email. Yeah. Boys, we have come to the end of the second third on the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez Carrillo paired with this wonderful Glenmorangie, 16 years aged, the Nectar. How's the cigar?
Gizmo:How's the drink? How's the pairing working for you guys at this point? A bit
Rooster:of construction issue with the cigar. Multiple relights.
Bam Bam:I see you're a little uneven there. Yeah. The second third was decent.
Gizmo:Thought that was the highlight. Much better.
Bam Bam:I'm finding just the beginning of the final third to be a little chalky, a little dry. There's still a hint of some of the sweetness. I haven't lost that, but it's faint. But I was thinking a moment ago, it's actually gotten better overall.
Rooster:I think it's still that creaminess still is coming through and the saltiness is also still there.
Bam Bam:Yeah, a little sweetness for
Senator:me right now. Yeah, and for me going into the final third, it's even a little buttery. I I like this now. That if I if I knew how this was gonna perform, I would have literally cut off the first third.
Bam Bam:And that's the problem. Yeah.
Senator:But the second and third was very enjoyable, and even going into the final third, it's buttery, it's salty, it still has a lot of those flavor notes that I like.
Rooster:Do you think it's a little bit like Aladino esque? No. Not for me.
Gizmo:I'm not getting any Honduran hits. This to me is
Rooster:like the salty creaminess that you savoriness that you get from the Aladinos.
Bam Bam:It's a
Senator:pretty interesting Some. Maybe actually some. Yeah. I guess because to your point, you know, in the second, third, and going into the final third, there are flavor notes right now that are reminding me of the original version of this, which was a Honduran puro
Gizmo:Mhmm.
Senator:Which I found to be interesting. So I I can see where you're coming from. Like, I'm happy to see there's some Honduran lighter Cuban esque notes or qualities, but I just wish that the, like, Nicaraguan Dominican, like, more bold tobacco wasn't as present.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Pagoda:Yeah. I I got a couple of puffs that were slightly bitter, but not
Senator:Sorry for goodness pass.
Gizmo:Alright. So let's
Rooster:let's examine our ash meter.
Gizmo:Ash meter.
Pagoda:Yeah. I think the construction's slightly poor.
Bam Bam:You're a gem.
Gizmo:You know that? Slightly poor. That was great.
Bam Bam:You're a national treasure.
Gizmo:He's just got his head up in the air. Looks like it's snowing in this corner of the room. Correct. Thank you for your sacrifice.
Pagoda:This is a cigar meter. We had to go to the ash meter.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. This one's from our friend Lizard Chris. This one's apropos, and I wanted to bring this up so he's doing it for me.
Bam Bam:Apropos for.
Pagoda:You've been using that word a lot.
Gizmo:Yeah. Go ahead,
Rooster:chef. I'm sorry.
Bam Bam:This whole recording is in edit.
Gizmo:It's falling apart. He says, hey, Lizards. It's Lizard Chris. I realized I've never been smoking while writing you guys an email. I'm currently enjoying an aging room Sonata in Maestro paired with the Macallan 12 Sherry.
Gizmo:I had to re up after your discussion a few weeks ago. I forgot how good it is. Now we'll follow that shortly with the Padron Exclusivo in Maduro. This guy
Senator:Very nice. Is a
Gizmo:lizard, Lizard Chris. Perfect. Here you go, Bam. Lock in. I wanted to write you today about DJ Khaled.
Gizmo:Yes. You heard me. DJ Khaled. Today on Instagram, he writes, after entering the second round of the Lizard giveaway, I scrolled past your post to none other than DJ Khaled in below the knee jorts with your jean shorts. Entering none other than Davidoff of London.
Bam Bam:No good.
Gizmo:That's with the Suhakians. He greets Eddie and Edward Suhakian outside of the shop, and when they proceed, he is inside presented with boxes of pre embargo Davidoff nineteen eighty six, eightieth anniversary. Cohiba, 1966, the Idision Limitada from 2011.
Bam Bam:Does this fucker even know how to smoke a cigar?
Gizmo:And Cohiba Robusto Soprimos, all of which I hope he paid for. I do too, but I don't know.
Bam Bam:Holy cow.
Gizmo:Stop right there. That is crazy. It's that's a crime. Another one. I I was absolutely shaken to my core, so I sent the clip to the Lizards Instagram.
Gizmo:Oh, I forgot I responded to Gizmo's response was probably the funniest thing I've heard in months. He said it's like giving a Ferrari f 40 to a toddler in jean shorts.
Bam Bam:Exactly right.
Gizmo:It really is. Okay. Let me let me just stop there. Let me just lay this out one more time. Cuban Davidoff they're not pre embargo.
Gizmo:Cuban Davidoff nineteen eighty six eightieth anniversary. This is a box of Cuban Davidoff cigars, full box, never cracked, from 1986 of Cuban Davidoff celebrating the eightieth anniversary of Davidoff. That box is probably worth $20.30, $50,000.
Bam Bam:Really?
Gizmo:Oh my god. That's That is beyond maybe more.
Chef Ricky:If Bam sold it, he'd
Gizmo:If get a lot I sold it on BR for sure.
Bam Bam:My manager
Gizmo:The Cohiba 1966, the EL twenty eleven is arguably it has been argued to be one of the best Cohiba cigars ever. Wow. Very rare 2011 Cohiba 1966 and the Cohiba Robusto Soprimos as well. Crazy. Kids also mentioned that he has humidors full of fake Cubans.
Gizmo:I've seen his fake Cubans before. I think he might be improving now. I think he locked in with some guy from The UK. He's getting him some better stuff, but which I looked into a little bit. And some of the addition limitata reserve bands on the Montes and Partagas look suspicious.
Gizmo:The addition limitata Monty the most. So he's talking about inside DJ Khaled's humidor on Instagram. But on the other hand, he has unlimited money and a reaching humidor. So unless he is purchasing from Mickey Mouse, I would think that they are all probably legit. I'm sure Giz has some more evidence.
Gizmo:I didn't dig all that deep. You know, I will say there's a lot of celebrities out there that put their stuff up on Instagram, and they're smoking Fugazi if you've been cigars.
Bam Bam:I challenge DJ
Gizmo:A lot
Chef Ricky:of high net worth individuals. Challenge DJ
Bam Bam:Khaled to call into this pod and talk about his smoking experience and his fucking attire.
Gizmo:I'd like
Rooster:By to see that the way, will, in
Gizmo:earnest, try to make that happen.
Bam Bam:DJ Khaled, you need to call in.
Chef Ricky:I'm pretty sure he's worn flip flops too.
Pagoda:Well, longer than Jordan.
Bam Bam:No, I think
Gizmo:he had sneakers on. I think he had Jordans on or something.
Bam Bam:Okay. Sorry, Pagoda.
Gizmo:Now onto the important part. Bam, please hold commentary until the end. I could see this having an effect on the cigar industry in two different ways. First, I believe that this is honestly a net positive for premium hand rolled cigars in The UK. And I think besides the petition, this opens the door for a further discussion on the impact and lifestyle associated with cigars.
Gizmo:Hopefully, ultimately them being saved from plain packaging in The UK. Second, during my discussion with Giz, he said to at least get someone that knows what they are doing and is respectable. I pointed out someone like Michael Jordan. Right? Which I definitely agree.
Gizmo:It is over the top and there are plenty of other celebrities better for this. But I want you all to note that this video, as I'm writing this, has 241,000 likes. So the views on that are well in the millions. I think this could swing either way because what if Khaled really is a lizard and just has a ridiculous and bodacious way of portraying it like the rest of his lifestyle? He's obviously smoking unicorn and vintage Habanos, and Carlito custom makes opus stuff for him.
Gizmo:Would a non lizard do that just because, quote, we the best? And he writes off, oh la la, wizard Chris.
Pagoda:Oh la la.
Bam Bam:I have nothing to say.
Gizmo:So what do you guys think about what he's saying here about that helping the cause with The UK plain packaging and maybe the UK government awakening to the net positive benefit of celebrity tourism, tourism in general, and the cigar industry. Do you think that this helps with any of this at all?
Bam Bam:It's hard to know. I mean, from the point of view of viewership online, right, social Retention? Yeah.
Pagoda:They don't care.
Bam Bam:Will that sway the government to change their I don't think so. No.
Gizmo:I would think if anybody could do it, it would be the Sahakians, would be Hunters and Franco, it would be James J. Fox. I mean, it'd be these institutions that literally have chairs of that Churchill sat in smoking cigars in their store.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And they haven't been able to do a thing.
Pagoda:He'd been turning in the grave.
Rooster:Think it was just a great day for the Saihicans to move all the expensive shit that nobody else was buying.
Bam Bam:Well, DJ Khaled probably got those boxes for
Gizmo:It
Rooster:was a good day for them. Free. Not free. He paid for it.
Bam Bam:How do you know?
Rooster:He had to have. What's the advantage?
Gizmo:I mean, I don't think they're giving away that many cigars. They may have given them a nice discount for the online attention, but
Bam Bam:like to in and confirm that.
Senator:You guys probably have similar collections. I'm sure he has some opus Dubai.
Bam Bam:Those things are smoking pretty good, actually.
Gizmo:So this is a great email from Lizard Chris. And I actually you know, I I got frustrated when I saw this. Not because I think that I or we deserve Davidoff in nineteen eighty six eightieth anniversary. But that to me is such like a a holy grail unicorn God level cigar that that should be reserved for the Yeah. I mean, I don't know.
Gizmo:What do I know? But
Bam Bam:For this room.
Gizmo:Yeah, I wish. But, you know, but seriously, I mean, that that that's really, really special stuff. And I don't I don't really know if this guy's a lizard. But Chris brings up a great point here that he very well may be. I don't know.
Rooster:I mean, 99% of the people can't afford that cigar. Mhmm. It's the people who probably don't even smoke a lot of cigars, you know, are not really into it. Like, I don't even know DJ Khaled. Like, he's he's, like, a huge cigar smoker.
Gizmo:I think he's finding I think he's finding good attention from it online. I think it's kinda becoming part of his thing, Is this cigar influencer thing? Because he does have the attention. He has so many millions of likes and views and everything else.
Bam Bam:You should call in for an education.
Rooster:We'll make it happen, Pam.
Gizmo:But I, you know, I just thought it was odd. You know, he's standing there in jeans shorts getting this Holy Grail cigar and I'm not judging. I'm just.
Bam Bam:Oh, I am
Gizmo:surprised that that that that is happening. It's just it's crazy given everything that, you know, those cigars are just legendary, you know? All right, boys. Let's go to another one now. This one is from a new friend of ours, Lizard Ben.
Gizmo:And he says in the subject line, dead lizards. I just wanted to drop a quick note saying how much I'm enjoying the podcast. I'm new to cigars, and after a recent trip to Cuba where I enjoyed my first cigar, which was a Cohiba Robusto. How about that for a first cigar? I really fell in love with the Partagas d four and the Milli Flor.
Gizmo:I found you guys after a little research, and I've been bouncing around various episodes and using the ratings guide to guide me into some good cigars. The new ratings page on the website is great for newbies such as myself. My tupper doors are growing tupper doors. I decided to start the journey from the beginning, and now I'm on episode 45. To my great delight, both Gizmo and Bam were identified as deadheads.
Gizmo:So I guess that's when we talked about going to the Dead and Company show. Correct. So the biggest deadhead, by the way That was awesome, by the way. It was awesome. The biggest deadhead out of all of us easily is Pooba.
Gizmo:I mean, actually, in the early days, I argued with him about the Grateful Dead, which I've retracted now very vehemently to him that I was wrong, but he is definitely, he's really, really into that.
Senator:You mean a gizmo definitive statement that you walked back?
Gizmo:I walked it back. I did. I'm learning, I'm growing. He says, I'm also a deadhead, and I figured you'd appreciate the following photos taken in Cuba. We are everywhere.
Gizmo:Great podcast, Lizard Ben. So here he is in Cuba. Some great photos.
Bam Bam:Nice.
Gizmo:Cohiba Robusto. Wow. Enjoying the pot.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:So welcome to the party. Welcome to Lizard Nation. Lizard Ben, we really appreciate you listening and sharing, and please keep writing. We always love to hear from new lizards. And by the way, so many lizards out there who've never written us an email.
Gizmo:Do you know how many folks in that Instagram thing, in the comments and and messages and everything have said, yeah, you know, I've been thinking about getting around to writing you guys a message or sending a voice memo.
Senator:I lost my solo, and I just didn't get around to it.
Gizmo:Yeah. Mean
Bam Bam:Hit a poll.
Gizmo:I'm gonna ban your IP from our Instagram, Cigar.
Bam Bam:The the gray matter's growing on the ladder. I feel smarter. Could we take a photo of that and post it on Instagram? Sure.
Gizmo:I I already did check your photos. I checked all your photos. That's perfect. Could you put it on Instagram right now, please?
Bam Bam:That's unbelievable. It's incredible. Look at that.
Gizmo:Put it up.
Pagoda:Did you see
Bam Bam:you gotta look at that.
Gizmo:Oh my lord.
Pagoda:That's horrible. That
Bam Bam:is that's incredible.
Gizmo:Shep, are you gonna put it on Instagram right now, folks?
Chef Ricky:I am. I am. Moly.
Gizmo:Dude, that's bad. That is
Bam Bam:really rough. Wow.
Gizmo:But I will say, it is working as an ash meter. Mean, clearly there's a construction problem.
Pagoda:Oh, the ash is a little flaky. That's a
Senator:Just a little.
Chef Ricky:Just a little.
Gizmo:That's a great pick.
Chef Ricky:Just a bit outside.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's go to our lizard of the week now presented by our friends at Bond Roberts. And our lizard of the week this week is our friend, Lizard Marcus. And Lizard Marcus is gonna win a 10 count box of cigars from Bon Roberts. It's a box of his choice, and his subject line is congrats on two fifty.
Gizmo:He says, hi, Lizards. I wanted to send along a congratulations on 250 episodes. I look forward to the new episode every Tuesday. Still working my way through older episodes. I have about 50 episodes to go between one hundred and one hundred and fifty.
Gizmo:Let me say you guys have come a long way in production value. I'm enjoying the volume of New World episodes these days because that's what I exclusively smoke. I have so many new things to try. Many of the sticks I am picking up today are a direct result of your recommendations. I've fallen in love with Aladino, and I'm making my way through their blends and Vitolas.
Gizmo:Just yesterday, I got my first order of Bon Robert cigars. I'm so excited to finally try the Dahlia. Some other options I have been loving are the Stellic line, and I'm starting to dabble with Avowed. I mean Oh, nice. True lizard.
Gizmo:He's a lizard. Yeah. I'm wishing you all the best. And to 250 more episodes, best Lizard Marcus.
Bam Bam:Very cool.
Gizmo:So Lizard Marcus has been writing us for quite some time, so congratulations to him winning lizard of the week this week, 10 count box of cigars from our friends at Bon Roberts. And, boys, we've come to the end of our evening with the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez Carrillo and the Glenmorangie, 16 years aged, the Nectar. Any final thoughts on the pairing while you send your ratings over to me? Any final thoughts on how the drink worked for the cigar? A little one-sided tonight Okay.
Bam Bam:In favor of the spirit.
Gizmo:I gotta say I've enjoyed both.
Bam Bam:Enjoyed both?
Gizmo:Did. Past the first third into the second third on the cigar, it picked up for me.
Bam Bam:Now in the final third, you're actually enjoying that?
Gizmo:I'm still enjoying this.
Rooster:You just sent the rating on the chat.
Bam Bam:Oh, fuck. Motherfucker. What's done is done. Now, don't look at the chat.
Gizmo:We're professionals, man. How do you think before we get into the ratings, how do you think that this scotch will work with other cigars? Call it stronger Dominican cigars, Nicaraguan, lighter stuff, Cuban, Honduran. What's everybody thinking on that?
Senator:I think the beauty is its versatility. I mean, for 46%, I would drink this with plenty of Cuban cigars, as well as plenty of New World cigars, even fuller ones. Agreed. I almost can't think of a cigar I wouldn't enjoy with this.
Bam Bam:Correct. It's an easy one.
Gizmo:Yeah. I think it's very versatile. Maybe Cubans, maybe.
Bam Bam:It wouldn't.
Pagoda:It's a
Gizmo:little overpowering for Cubans, but think most everything else in
Bam Bam:the I world think it'd is be very complementary, actually.
Chef Ricky:I think if you de cancer it, it'll work better with a Cuban. It might be a little hot in the beginning with Cubans, but
Gizmo:Alright, boys. It's time now to go into the formal liquor rating on the Glenmorangie, 16 years age, the Nectar. Bam. Bam. You're
Bam Bam:up. I'm at a very strong 10. Wow. I I think this is pretty unique. The orange, the caramel, and the overtly powerful honey on this is just really special.
Bam Bam:It's different. The price is fantastic. We just mentioned versatility. I can easily see myself having this with an Exclusiva that I'm looking at right now. And that stoic there and almost any other cigars we just mentioned a moment ago, I think it's delicious.
Bam Bam:And I can drink this all year long. I think this would be great in the summer without ice. I think ice would kill this.
Senator:It'd be great
Gizmo:on vanilla ice cream.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're not wrong. I've never done that, but you're not wrong.
Bam Bam:I think it's just overall a fantastic experience. Delicious, elegant, long lasting finish. So you're getting good value there. Strong, strong 10. All right, chef.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, but I'm speaking of good value. I mean, 80 for this bottle. They they've done so much right. The flavors there, the body's there, the nose is there, the description on the box, calling this Nectar, which is truly what it is, right? Like, I mean, this thing is is perfect for me.
Chef Ricky:I'm giving it a 10. This is probably one of my favorite scotches right now, hands down. And at $80, it is so approachable. Is this easy to find? Did we get this at Total
Senator:Wine? You can find it.
Pagoda:Every airport as well, would imagine.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, I mean, this is something I definitely get a fiver of.
Gizmo:We're going go back
Chef Ricky:to I that in a knew it. Yeah. No, this this was delicious. Very, very delicious. I love the honeycomb because this thing has a lot of texture.
Chef Ricky:The spirit has a lot of texture. Very creamy, very viscous, great body, delicious flavor. I loved it. Absolutely. Pagoda.
Pagoda:It's a 10 for me. I can't believe it. I enjoyed it so much. You know, there's spirits that as soon as you get, you really start enjoying it from the nose all the way through. This is one of them, and it's so easy to drink.
Pagoda:You know what's shocking me is that, well, it's 46% ABV, meaning it's like, wow, it doesn't feel like that at all. The price is extremely reasonable. $80, definitely within reach. For a pleasant you know, I agree with your statement about the versatility. I could see myself on the desk.
Pagoda:You know, sometimes you, like on the deck At the office. Oh my lord. That's
Rooster:On the desk. I gotta go
Bam Bam:to the mail room. Hold on.
Pagoda:Wait, that's my Belverny. I'm sorry. But on the deck, but on the deck, like, it could be a pleasant evening. You know, sometimes you're craving something sweeter. Yeah.
Pagoda:And you know, we gravitate to a drum, you know, when we're looking for something sweeter than the whiskey and we've been but this is one which could really come and I think fit the slot right in the middle between Belverny and rum. I think it'll come somewhere in between there for something sweet and delicious. You know? It's for me, it had a medium to long finish. It left the sweetness on my palate.
Pagoda:I think it really helped the cigar today. I could see me, you know, having this with any cigar. Really, really enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. It's a 10.
Gizmo:So for me, it's a nine. That's why I reacted when you said 10, because for me, I was debating nine and ten. I know the price is there, especially for the age, sixteen years. But for me, this isn't a perfect scotch. There's so many other scotches I love to reach for in that price point.
Gizmo:I know it's 16 years age. I know that that's a crazy price for that. So I have to hedge my rating by saying, acknowledging that. I know that that certainly helps things when you're looking at the 16 number, but it wasn't a perfect Scotch me. It's really, really good.
Gizmo:Will I go out and buy this over something else at that $80.90 dollar price point? Probably not. If I have only $90 to spend, probably not gonna reach for this. However, tonight it performed very, very well. I think it would stand up to most of the cigars that we smoke.
Gizmo:I don't think the lighter stuff I would pair with this, But really, really an awesome experience tonight with this. But it was not perfect for me. So it's a nine. Senator.
Senator:Well, it was perfect for me. It's a 10. I am truly shocked how spectacular a job Glenmorangie has done with this spirit. To be designed to be as sweet as this is, it's very dessert like. The brilliance of, like, the citrus note that, like, actually gives it some balance.
Senator:Like, if it didn't have that, this would be too sweet. Yeah. It balanced it out in just the right ways. I can't believe this is 46%. There most single malts, all of us in this room, that are 42% that drink hotter than, like, a 40% rum, we will have with some ice.
Senator:This doesn't need it at all. The way it hits your palate, it's so elegant and refined. It, like, dances on your palate. The honey, the the citrus, all the notes were were just awesome. I think Bam's point is a really good one around how amazing it is you can enjoy this any time of year on a hot day That's a good point.
Senator:And a cold day.
Gizmo:Yeah.
Senator:That's special in the scotch category. It's really just strengthened my love for Glenmorangie. I think it is truly one of the most underrated distillers, and the fact that, you know, how many of these spirits that we've done that introduce, like, a pretty obscure barrel for part of the aging process.
Gizmo:White wine here. That's crazy.
Senator:Yeah. Exactly. And usually it's a gimmick and it adds nothing, and many times it even detracts from the spirit. Sweet white wine is something I have no interest in drinking on its own whatsoever. But to mature this scotch in that barrel, it really, really worked well.
Senator:So I have to give them credit. I think it's very innovative. We've never done a spirit that's even attempted to age in that kind of a barrel.
Bam Bam:Yep.
Senator:So for all those reasons, and then you add the price point
Gizmo:It's crazy at 80.
Senator:I mean, a sixteen
Gizmo:year I'm regretting my nine. Goddamn it.
Chef Ricky:It's just I'm not surprised.
Senator:It checks every I single would absolutely drink this again. I also like that, you know, as easy as this will be to find, it's not something many people know about. I mean, I'm talking about two people that had told me they tried this and were, like, really impressed with it. It's just it there's
Gizmo:something crazy at that price point that more people just don't randomly reach for it because it's accessible. Yeah.
Senator:Yeah. I mean, I say that because this has to be a relatively new release for them. I'm not saying the last two years, but certainly, I would have to think within the last five, at most ten years. Like, Glenmorangie is famous for it's eighteen and it's ten. I had never really heard about this until recently, so I think that's why it's not as well known, but I would proudly serve this to anyone at my own house, and I will definitely buy a bottle and drink this again.
Senator:So I'm at a strong nine, and hats off to the Glenmorangie team.
Pagoda:Strong 10. Strong 10.
Senator:I'm sorry. A strong 10.
Chef Ricky:Can I tell you why I'm not surprised? Not year nine?
Gizmo:Yeah. Senator, it was released in 2024.
Pagoda:Why, Shefrick?
Chef Ricky:He what?
Gizmo:Sorry. In what year? 2024.
Pagoda:Two years
Senator:That makes perfect sense.
Gizmo:Go ahead.
Chef Ricky:Because you don't like honey.
Pagoda:There you go.
Bam Bam:He got a point.
Rooster:He's got a point. Correct. So voice the formal liquor rate tonight
Gizmo:on the Glenmorangie, 16 years aged. The Nectar is a brilliant 9.8.
Bam Bam:Very nice.
Gizmo:Let's compare that to the other five that we've done on the pod. I'm gonna skip the first one, the Glenmorangie 10. We didn't rate it on episode 20. That might have been the last episode that we didn't rate the spirit. Then we took a long break, came back episode 114.
Gizmo:We did the Glenmorangie, 14 years age. Quinta Rubin scored a seven. Then on episode 149 with the part against Padura, number three from Cuba. The Cadball Estate, fifteen years, scored a 9.1. Then we did the Glenmorangie twelve on episode 195, scored an 8.6.
Gizmo:And on episode 201, the Glenmorangie ten scored a 10. That was a great episode with the avowed and new dawn. That was a ten ten wins for sure.
Senator:Can I say one last thing? Yep. You know, what's fascinating I'm I'm just drinking a little more of this. The amount of sweetness that this has, if this were a rum, we'd all be sitting here saying, they probably added a decent amount of sugar. Yeah.
Senator:Very that, like, the laws around scotch or single malt scotch are so strict.
Bam Bam:Yep.
Senator:There categorically can be no added sugar, and they were able to attain like this level of sweetness just from that barrel is really remarkable.
Gizmo:I will say I I I admire, and I'm curious about the process of taking that risk or doing that experiment. Like, if this came out two years ago, September, October 24, right? When did they start the process of toying with
Bam Bam:It's a good question.
Gizmo:White wine barrels? How much did they try?
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:How long did that Was this a ten year process to mature it, taste it, refine it? Like, I would think that for the master distiller, that's quite probably a long process to put something like this together and take that risk. Because with others, you can guess, I would think. Right?
Bam Bam:Right.
Gizmo:But with this, I mean, that's new territory, would
Senator:Very unique.
Pagoda:I think we should get a massive distiller on the pod and just talk a little bit about it. I think this is really interesting. DJ Khaled. Alright,
Gizmo:boys. It's time now for the formal lizard rating on the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez Carrillo, the Toro. Brewster, you're up.
Rooster:So I'm at a I'm at a seven on this cigar. The cigar the wrapper was pretty rustic.
Gizmo:It wasn't pretty.
Rooster:Yeah, it wasn't pretty, but it was very rustic. The aroma out of the wrapper, it was giving you milk chocolate type notes, which sometimes it does kind of work its magic into the cigar, sometimes it doesn't. And on this particular case, it did not. I mean, there was no chocolate notes that came out of the cigar. A lot of people got sweetness out of the cigar.
Rooster:I got mostly salty creaminess, not a lot of sweet notes out of the cigar. For me, it was more savory than sweet. The first onethree wasn't really pleasant. I think it was a bit it was trying to achieve certain those notes were not that distinct. I think about the midway point is where the cigar got probably the best.
Rooster:It was creamier, it was saltier, it was a little nuttier. And there was a little bit of a bread note that was coming through. Overall, it was Okay. It was a pleasant cigar. But other than that, I mean, I don't think I would be pursuing this cigar, not even a fiber.
Rooster:I'm I'm at a seven.
Pagoda:Okay. You know, your previous seven, you pursued a five.
Gizmo:I know. Was all borderline
Rooster:borderline. You you
Gizmo:rated the Tatawaje, the Miami Havana, Casadores.
Rooster:Exactly the same. I know.
Gizmo:And you said you were buying a five.
Rooster:But this one, I won't.
Bam Bam:Look at those eyes. Like, laser beams.
Rooster:I like I like Tatawajes. The Tatawajes are more on in my rated it the same exact thing.
Gizmo:I know I am. So what?
Senator:Look. They don't put anything in butcher paper. Alright? He just loves tattooing.
Chef Ricky:Well, the eye roll and everything.
Gizmo:Senator, you're up.
Senator:So I agree with Rooster on this. I'm also at a seven.
Gizmo:Are you buying a fiber?
Senator:I'm not.
Rooster:Neither am I. Are you?
Senator:No. The the sad thing for me is the second, third, and the final third. I actually did enjoy the flavor profile, The saltiness, the creaminess, there was a nuttiness there. All of that was enjoyable. The problem was the first third was not enjoyable.
Senator:I think Rooster was getting at this. It was like the flavors were fighting each other. Yeah. And not one of them Distinct. That's the thing.
Senator:Like, not one note won that battle and you were just confused. And, you know, Chef was talking about how you just kept taking all these, you know,
Gizmo:it's like jittery
Senator:right angle turns. Like, yeah, you definitely felt that.
Bam Bam:So Like DJ Khaled. Correct.
Gizmo:Yeah. This cigar wore this cigar wears jorts.
Rooster:Jorts. Shorts.
Senator:So that immediately took off, you know, what could have potentially been an eight for me and and brought it down to a seven. The other thing that brought it down to a seven, the the ash was flaky. The construction It was not the burned relatively evenly, which was good, at least mine did, but I did have to relight it a little bit. There were some areas where it just wasn't kinda burning at the same rate, and the ash, obviously, like we said, is a problem. So I'm bummed out because I want us to try the original line.
Senator:Again, it's a milder profile than this. Like, it's a cigar you might, like, light up in the morning or the afternoon, but the construction I was actually shocked for what's a very budget friendly cigar, that original line. The construction was flawless. Like, was shocked. Like, ash held on like two inches.
Senator:Wish we had that thing on my pants. Yeah. If only gives he takes a vacation to Pennsylvania. He just
Gizmo:You know, today is my ten year anniversary.
Bam Bam:Can you look at him like you did him, please?
Rooster:I'm sorry that I
Gizmo:was thinking about the family and the spouse before the podcast today. Unconsciously, I will never let that happen again. Alright.
Pagoda:Is it your ten year wedding
Gizmo:anniversary? Yeah. Today. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Oh, wow. I wish you a
Senator:very very
Bam Bam:That's awesome,
Gizmo:dude. Crazy.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Congratulations.
Rooster:Hey. What's the other cigar that was Honduran?
Bam Bam:Oh, quick transition.
Gizmo:That was funny.
Rooster:Was that more sweet?
Bam Bam:Oh, sweet.
Gizmo:It
Senator:was. It was definitely more sweet. There was some of the saltiness and creaminess you got in this, but there was a more pronounced sweet note that held all the way through. So at some point, we definitely need to do it. But for I'm
Gizmo:gonna order them tonight. We'll do it before the end of the year.
Rooster:Nice. I might have
Gizmo:an No.
Pagoda:No. No. It's alright. Maybe next year.
Rooster:I might have an eight on the other one. I'm
Gizmo:buying two boxes.
Senator:But again, with the seven, would I smoke it again if I had no other, you know, options? Sure. It's a it's a fine smoke. There are parts of it that are actually very enjoyable. But would I pursue this?
Senator:Would I strongly recommend someone go out of their way to buy this cigar? I would not. So I'm at a seven.
Rooster:The price is not bad for what you're getting
Bam Bam:a Toro for $9.50.
Gizmo:And
Senator:the other thing, you brought up a good point there. You know, this was a well packed cigar. It's not like it burned, you know, very quickly and then powered through
Gizmo:it. Nobody lit a second cigar.
Bam Bam:Yeah. No. No. You're right.
Senator:So you do get a lot of value in the cigars they produce. I will give them that.
Gizmo:I'm gonna piggyback on that. I I I'm also at a seven. I think if the first third was re blended, this cigar is high eights, low nines territory. I really believe that.
Rooster:Yeah,
Gizmo:maybe. Because that second third was really good. I was in that territory in the second third, but the first third really pulled it down. The finish actually for me, the last inch and a half, let's say, got a little weird for me, a little bitter. Didn't really enjoy that.
Gizmo:So it's a seven for me. The merits were the things that have already been said. Think the performance was great. The value's there. It's a $9.50 cigar.
Gizmo:Think there were some great moments in the second, that you guys have already detailed. I won't recap that. But, you know, I was hoping for more tonight. I was hoping for, you know, an exciting journey in the cigar, not just fleeting moments or a fleeting third, but it wasn't to be, so for me it's a seven. Pagoda?
Pagoda:A seven for me as well. I think it there was a time while I was smoking the cigar, you know, I was closer to an eight, and I was thinking I'd be, you know, rating it an eight. Because for me, the first serve wasn't too bad. You know, I was getting a little bit of the sweetness and the nutty saltiness kind of throughout. But I didn't think for me it changed a lot.
Pagoda:The cigar was kind of really monotone in its own right. The last third for me, I got a couple of a few bitter puffs. And then, you know, I think what chef was experiencing in the beginning of the cigar where it was going left and right, you know, that started happening to me. I was getting a good puff, then it was like a couple of so so puffs, and it really it really kind of took away the whole pleasant experience for me. Having said that, very, very flaky.
Pagoda:It's all over me.
Senator:Multiple, multiple That's an understatement.
Gizmo:Check out the Instagram.
Pagoda:Multiple relights and Multiple multiple relights and multiple touch ups. You know, like, so when when you're spending so much time relighting the cigar, touching it up, you know, your ash is very flaky, it takes away from the experience. I think just yeah. It's a seven for me.
Gizmo:Yeah. Alright, chef.
Chef Ricky:I was just looking at the proximity of the Asterisk to Pagoda and he has two that are with an easy reach.
Gizmo:Don't understand.
Pagoda:Was not ashing on myself, buddy.
Chef Ricky:Could have fooled me.
Senator:You fooled us?
Rooster:This is one of
Bam Bam:those cigars. It's ever been.
Senator:Ever.
Chef Ricky:It is honestly. Yeah. And
Bam Bam:he grinds it into his hands with his wrist.
Pagoda:I need some more drink, man. I need a 10. Pass on.
Chef Ricky:I'm shocked at the sevens in the room, quite honest, outside of Pagoda because he seemed to be having a good experience with his cigar for the most part. But, you know, this cigar was all over the place for me. It it just it was kind of jittery. It didn't really, like, dig into any one flavor profile. There was this this one thread of, like, bitterness that I was seeing for the first two thirds.
Chef Ricky:The final third started to round out for me.
Gizmo:We're watching Pagoda pour another pour.
Bam Bam:But his facial expression.
Senator:Best part was that he poured another pour that he looked at them. He looked at me and we said we were good. We have enough. And then he just looked at his glasses. He said, Okay, more for
Gizmo:me. More for more.
Pagoda:It's excellent.
Chef Ricky:Sorry, it is really good. Yeah, no, this this cigar didn't do it for me tonight. You know, there was moments where it just got really bitter, really tannic, really dirty feeling almost. The construction was weird. The light ups were were plentiful here.
Chef Ricky:So, you know, for me, I I left it out of six. I couldn't give it a seven knowing that I give that that Wahia seven and I and I'd want to buy a fiver. So there's no way I could give this a seven.
Gizmo:The fact that you guys are digging your heels in on that is just mind blowing to me.
Bam Bam:On what? The Tatawahe.
Rooster:Did you find it?
Chef Ricky:I do it all over again, man.
Gizmo:No, they're sold out everywhere.
Rooster:For a reason.
Gizmo:A lot of people
Rooster:are buying fivers. They're buying sevens. Damn.
Bam Bam:I respect the six. I consider it a six. You know, I can only talk about a portion of a cigar that I liked. That's a six. It's
Chef Ricky:not good.
Pagoda:It doesn't do much.
Bam Bam:It's frustrating as hell. And you know, as I entered that final third, the tip of it was kind of chalky and dry, and then as a few of you have said, a little bit of a rollercoaster got good here, then bad. It should be a six, but I am at a seven. It's a respectable cigar, I guess, but they need to retool this thing. It's overall not great.
Rooster:You're still smoking it.
Bam Bam:I want to continue Down
Senator:into the nub.
Bam Bam:I am. I do that because I want to
Gizmo:He's a professional.
Bam Bam:Well, yeah, as we all are, unlike other groups. Thou shall remain nameless. So I'm at a firm seven.
Gizmo:So boys, the formal list rating tonight on the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez Carrillo is 6.8. That's Not great. It's a fair score, though.
Senator:Yeah. A lot. Thanks a lot, score.
Rooster:Summary. I do feel bad because, honestly, I
Gizmo:prepped the whole episode for the other cigar. And honestly, I I had my stepson dry box while I was out of town.
Rooster:Yeah.
Gizmo:He calls I me before the episode. He goes, I've got some bad news.
Senator:I bought the wrong cigar.
Rooster:And I didn't realize it till
Gizmo:I packed him to come here.
Rooster:So it's his fault.
Pagoda:Yeah. It's his Yeah, but you know, considering it's EP Carrillo, you'd imagine that, you know, he does deliver really, really
Gizmo:Yeah, good does. Of course. This is just a miss.
Bam Bam:It's a miss.
Gizmo:And honestly, I'm not even gonna compare this to the other EPC we've done, the Casa Carrillo stuff. I think this is an outlier.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:And you know, so we won't compare this to the other stuff.
Rooster:This is third week of mediocrity on the pod.
Senator:Thanks, Giz. But you ordered
Bam Bam:a fiver, the one of the mediocre I
Rooster:can't find it. Can't find it.
Gizmo:You can't call that mediocrity. That broke the streak. If you're buying fivers, that's not
Bam Bam:You're attempting to buy fivers.
Rooster:Can't get them.
Bam Bam:Even the attempt counts.
Pagoda:Sorry. I'm ready to change my rotation gears. Come on. We gotta come up with some really interesting stuff.
Gizmo:We got some good stuff coming.
Pagoda:Alright. Thank you.
Senator:At least we had a good spirit.
Pagoda:Yes. Very good. The spirit was excellent, by
Bam Bam:the way. Saved the night. Very.
Gizmo:So boys, what a great night. We have to congratulate again our friend Lizard Marcus, who won Lizard of the Week. Thanks to our friends at Bon Robertson. Of course, we have to thank all the Lizards out there in Lizard Nation who contribute to our program. Like, we detailed, you know, getting on the Instagram and and digging into that those giveaways over Labor Day weekend.
Gizmo:We really, really appreciate everybody celebrating 250 episodes of the podcast and continuing to write in. Send your voice memos, your comments, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, whatever you want, please reach out to us. Your comments, your feedback, it's the lifeblood of this program. We really, really appreciate you guys staying in touch with us. Of course, we have to thank our friends at Bon Roberts for supporting our Lizards of the Week, sending our lizards 10 count boxes each week.
Gizmo:You can find their stuff at faberca005.com. Boys, our new friends at Drew Estate, the rebirth of cigars. Yeah. It's good to have them.
Rooster:Correct.
Gizmo:A lot of cool stuff coming from those guys as we round out the end of this year, so we're so happy to have them here. And our exclusive retail partner of the Lounge Lizards Podcast, the sponsor of those amazing giveaways, smallbatchcigar.com. We got these cigars there. We have most of our cigars coming from there using our code LISSARD15 for 15% off your entire order, plus 5% back end rewards, plus free shipping on every order, plus amazing customer service, plus an easy to use website, plus great samplers, plus they have great curation.
Bam Bam:Off the charts.
Gizmo:I mean, this place is unbelievable. I can keep going and going.
Chef Ricky:It's a 10.
Gizmo:I love it is a 10. I should play the ten ten wind sound, but Small Batch Cigars is an amazing partner to us, and we really, really appreciate those guys. And of course, boys, our presenting sponsor, Fabrica Five.
Bam Bam:Love you, Rob. Love you, Hamlet.
Gizmo:Doesn't get better than those Honduran cigars coming out of Fabrica Five. They have a new Maduro, by the way, the Porto Des Nudo Petite Corona Maduro just came out. So check that out. Fabrica005.com. Use our code lizard pod for 10% off everything in the entire store.
Gizmo:Free shipping on all orders over a 125. Boys, a great night. One more time, the Glenmorangie, 16 years age, the Nectar, 9.8, and the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez Carrillo, a 6.8. A little weak on that one, but we'll try to recover next week. What a great night, boys.
Bam Bam:Excellent.
Rooster:A lot
Gizmo:of fun. Cheers. And, we'll see everybody next week. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us.
Gizmo:You can find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod.com. That's loungelizardspod.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, do you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking? Email us.
Gizmo:Hello at loungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod. We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.